‘YOU ARE THE F***ING ENEMY’
Finglas, Dublin January 2023: Detective warns chiefs anti-social youths are latching onto anti-immigration movement causing ‘near anarchy’ as mob scream at gardaí –
GARDA management were warned of an ‘emerging conflict’ with far-right mobs as far back as last January when a senior officer warned his bosses a district in Dublin was thrown into ‘a state of near anarchy’.
The warnings appear to directly contradict claims by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who insisted in the immediate aftermath of last month’s riots in the capital that ‘nobody could have foreseen these events’.
Informed sources this weekend said Garda management ‘cannot state they weren’t aware of the hostile situation’ emerging on the streets of the capital when it was highlighted by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) at the start of the year.
Detective Garda Mark Ferris, a GRA central executive for the Dublin Metropolitan West (DMW) area, outlined in detail to his superiors how a mob threatened gardaí during two nights of volatile anti-immigrant protests in Finglas.
In January, Det Garda Ferris reported: ‘The last two nights have seen the sub-district of Finglas thrown into state of near anarchy as anti-social elements have latched on to a growing protest movement concerned about State policy on asylum-seekers.’
The GRA representative also reported footage of the protests circulating on social media and told how officers had been threatened by protesters, who told them: ‘We are going to take the next step; you are the f***ing enemy.’
In his report, the concerned officer spoke of the emergence of ‘politically-radicalised’ youths in disadvantaged suburbs ‘where law and order is already widely flouted is a recipe for civil unrest’.
And in a stark warning, he said gardaí were now ‘effectively on the front line of what could almost be classed as an emerging conflict’.
Det Garda Ferris’s comments were made some 10 months before Commissioner Harris denied there was a policing failure when gardaí effectively lost control of parts of the capital for hours after chaos erupted following the stabbing of a woman and schoolchildren in Dublin city centre. Shops were looted and vandalised, a Luas tram was destroyed and a bus set alight.
One garda received serious injuries which required him to have a toe amputated, and several others were injured. Thirteen Garda vehicles were burned or damaged.
Asked if Garda management had failed in its policing response, Mr Harris insisted: ‘Nobody could have anticipated these events.
‘There is no failure here. I think we’ve seen an element of radicalisation. We’ve seen a group of people who take literally a thimble full of facts, a bathtub of hateful assumptions and then conduct themselves in a way that is riotous and disruptive to our society.’
However, sources said officers had clearly warned Garda management for months of the growing threat posed by violent far-right mobs. Separately, Det Garda Ferris this weekend said the recruitment and retention ‘crisis’ engulfing the force is exacerbating an already volatile policing environment.
‘The recruitment and retention crisis continues to sap morale in DMR West, via a vicious circle of under-investment, ballooning bureaucracy, resource depletion and plummeting confidence,’ he told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
‘We’ve learned that the most recent monthly resignation lists of 15 and 13 has three from the division that governs the constituency of the Taoiseach [Dublin West].’
Det Garda Ferris pointed to the ‘irony of politicians who proclaim law and order while presiding over its visible decline’.
He added: ‘It’s common knowledge in the force that this division has over 10% of national resignations… members are resigning earlier. A recent recruit left the job having spent less than 11 weeks in the [Dublin West] division. Was he taken aside and asked why? No, he was not, other than being offered a bog standard exit interview.’
Justice Minister Helen McEntee, addressing the Dáil ahead of the
‘Gardaí are on front line of an emerging conflict’
Government’s defeat of Sinn Féin’s motion of no confidence in her, promised to boost officer numbers, build stations and invest in equipment such as bodycams. But according to Det Garda Ferris, the emphasis needs to be on putting more boots on the ground to boost frontline policing. He said: ‘When the public see Government announcing eyecatching initiatives and spending increases for policing, that in itself acknowledges that the State doesn’t have the number of required frontline gardaí to effectively police the country. It is how this money is spent that matters.’
He also said officers are inhibited from being proactive in ‘detecting crime and engaging with the local community’ because they are chained to their desks, which he blamed on the ‘technocratic culture in senior management’.
He added the recruitment and retention crisis will continue unless management ‘step up and get to grips with this problem’.
A Garda spokesperson told the MoS: ‘An Garda Síochána does not comment on remarks by third parties’. They confirmed the force ‘has made 50 arrests this year largely related to illegal activity at anti-migration protests in the Dublin area’. They said a recruitment drive ‘is ongoing and accelerating, with offers for the next recruitment class being completed before end of
2023’.
‘Recent recruit left job after less than 11 weeks’