Far-right exploited the twin failures of Harris and McEntee
GARDAÍ were not deployed in sufficient numbers and quickly enough to prevent the shocking events that took place in Dublin city centre on Thursday night. And the responsibility for that rests with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. The gardaí are understaffed and simply didn’t have the required, fully trained, quick call-up, anti-riot members available when the whole thing kicked off. And the responsibility for that rests with Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
These twin failures – at Garda HQ and at Government Buildings – meant that far-right, anti-immigrant thugs and criminals and a mixed, all-sorts band of fellow-travellers had, in the first place, the opportunity to run riot. And secondly, they could stay at it for much longer than would have been the case if we had a garda force that’s fit for purpose. And we don’t, either to ensure public order on our streets, or save lives by enforcing safety on our roads.
Helen McEntee and Drew Harris should have seen this coming. The influence of the far-right has been growing for years, here in Ireland and throughout Europe. Over 20 years ago the Freedom Party came to prominence in Austria and today Italy is governed by a prime minister who heads a party with neo-fascist roots.
FINLAND has right-wing nationalists in government and next door in Sweden the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are the second biggest party in parliament. The same worrying trends are also evident in Greece and Spain, not to mention Hungary where ultra-conservative, antienforcement. immigrant Viktor Orbán has been prime minister since 2010. France has seen the steady ascent of the far-right to the centre of power.
The right is growing in Germany, consolidating in Poland and a populist Robert Fico is now prime minister in Slovakia, in a government that includes ultra-nationalist partners. And, only this week Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders, who wants to reduce immigration to zero, ban the Quran and leave the
EU, won a stunning election victory.
Surely our chief of police and our Justice Minister are aware of all that?
They’d also be aware of a major report this week which found that the influence of the far-right was increasing here in Ireland with tech companies failing to curtail the publication of fake news and commentary.
All this follows the burning of tents belonging to homeless refugees at a makeshift camp in Dublin city centre last May after the camp became an issue for anti-immigration protesters.
These twists and turns should have raised red flags for those directing our policing policy and It should have resulted in funds being provided by government that allowed for the necessary recruitment of many more gardaí to the force, which according to former Assistant Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan is short about 2,000 officers.
After the riots it was Commissioner Harris himself who confirmed the reactive, rather than proactive, nature of the policing response to what happened on Thursday. ‘We responded as the events unfolded,’ he said, as if that was good enough.
Even more self-maiming politically was Helen McEntee’s answer when asked if she thought the streets of Dublin were safe. ‘This is not about the streets being safe,’ she said like someone taking us for fools, or worse, who doesn’t realise that’s precisely what she’s doing. Because, if this isn’t about the streets being safe, then what’s all the fuss?
McEntee is right about one thing, however. These rioting thugs, whose only response to a callous and savage knife attack on little children and a carer in Parnell Square earlier on Thursday was to destroy property and loot shops, must be held to account. Like the January 6, 2021 attack on democracy in Washington, those responsible for this outrage in Dublin city centre on November 24 must, in a calm and timely manner, be brought to justice. Already 34 people have been arrested, a figure likely to rise in the days and months ahead as gardaí study CCTV footage and track down more culprits.
THE current law is more than adequate to deal with these hoodlums, and so are the penalties. And there’s no doubt that sooner rather than later a number of the rioters will be cooling their soup behind bars at Mountjoy, a few hundred metres from the scene of their crimes.
But there’s more to this than criminal blameworthiness – there’s also political and management accountability.
Helen McEntee and Drew Harris now face many questions, and so far their answers haven’t been convincing.
What happened in Dublin on Thursday represents an unprecedented failure of policing management and resourcing. Those responsible for that must now face charges in the court of public opinion, which in a democracy is the highest court in the land.