Doubts at Harris’ claim that riot caught us off-guard
‘DISINGENUOUS’ IN SAYING NO-ONE FORESAW IT
GARDA Commissioner Drew Harris was “disingenuous” in saying no-one could have foreseen the Dublin riots, the GRA’s new Vice President has claimed.
Detective Garda Niall Hodgins, who was elected yesterday, opened up to The Star about the stabbing incident on Parnell Square East which was followed by chaos across the city and his feelings on how the Commissioner handled the riots.
Based in Mountjoy, he said: “I was in my role, I’m an investigator in Dublin’s north inner-city, and I was present there at the horrific scenes that preceded the riots, which was the stabbing of a number of people on Parnell Square.
“When I returned back to the station, the Garda Commissioner was outside my own station and he was addressing the station and giving a press conference.
“So I listened to his words and there were a number of issues there and a number of things that he said that I found were disin genuous.”
Det Gda Hodgins believed the Commissioner had been handed the highest offices in this land.
“So he has some sort of form of intelligence to oversee that and what I’m saying is, I took some of his words in that particular address as being somewhat disingenuous.”
Asked if he felt there was therefore a failure of intelligence, Det Gda Hodgins said: “Intelligence by its very nature is secret and only he can answer that.” In response, Garda headquarters told us: “An Garda Siochana is not in a position to provide detailed “There was another thing that comment on he suggested there that matters which nobody could’ve predicted are still under what would criminal investigation happen. and in “Many multiple cases months before now before the courts. the “As far back as 2019, Commissioner Dublin Harris warned about the rise of the far riots the right in Ireland and the threat it posed to Garda the country.” commissioner They then went on to quote the Commissioner from the Justice Committee himself on November 29 in which he oversaw said: “I have to respond in terms of appointing the fact that this was a spontaneous an armed detective incident. to each “We were responding on a Thursday and every minister which had started out like any other in the cabinet, normal day. We were always responding intelligence when he appointed an armed garda to Government ministers months before the riots.
He said that this seemed like a contradiction when he told the media that no-one could have foresaw the riots, which were led by the so-called far right.
He explained: “Firstly he alluded to the fact that the riots were organised by lunatics. Now lunatics to me would not be able to organise and take over a major European city the way that they did. ‘PROUD’: Newly elected Vice President of the GRA Niall Hodgins
Failure
in terms of how the situation developed and getting the resources there.
“It would have been an infinitely easier operation if we had had some indication as to this happening, but there was no prior indication as to the
scale of what emerged.”
Child
In his press conference on November 24 last year, Commissioner Harris said gardai could not have anticipated the response to the knife attack that saw a child critically injured.
At the time, he said: “Nobody could have anticipated these events” adding that there was “no failure” in regard to the Garda response. Det Gda Hodgins became Vice President at the annual conference of the GRA in Westport, Co Mayo yesterday. Speaking about his new role, he thanked those who voted for him. He added: “It’s a very emotional time for me. I’m a longtime member of this great association of ours and to be deemed suitable by all my colleagues here to be elected to the office... I’m immensely proud that they have belief in me.”