The corrosive cycle of our Garda crises
HOW much more of a battering can the reputation of the Garda Síochána take?
We have had five years of devastating allegations piling up against the force, from penalty points to fake breath tests.
Morale among gardaí is gravely low, the public is aghast at the scale of dysfunction and we have a government seemingly incapable of tackling the crises.
The junior coalition partners secured a commitment weeks ago for root and branch reform. We reveal today that not only will Garda practices be reviewed – the very name of the force itself is on the table.
There is widespread acceptance that the force needs radical change. The charge sheet makes for grim reading: the framing of individuals in Donegal, the cancellation of penalty points, the inflation of breathalyser test figures, the convictions of thousands of people unaware they had charges to face at all, the creative accounting at Templemore and the contemptible treatment of whistleblowers who wanted to highlight these malpractices.
The name change is a signal at least that there is a serious commitment to a complete transformation of culture to restore the integrity of the force.
An internal memo circulated to gardaí yesterday by senior management urged strict adherence to ethics. Surely things are rotten when this needs to be said?
It petitioned those who had ideas on how the Garda could be improved to come forward. Too little, too late.
It can be said that Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan inherited a dysfunctional institution. It can also be said that she failed over three years to institute reform.
Mrs O’Sullivan will feel there is little advantage in quitting. And she knows it. Once removed from office she would be out of the loop, unable to control her story. And there is little stomach for the Taoiseach to fire her. It might topple his Justice Minister. And what leader could survive TWICE losing his Garda Commissioner and Justice Minster? It’s no wonder there is such a sense of dread in the country.
World’s warped web
THE internet has made our lives incomparably easier. Its speed and its versatility have transformed communications, commerce, education and politics, but it has also released a great deal of evil – pornography, propaganda for wicked causes, fraud and crude personal revenge.
You might expect that the big internet companies would be keen to ensure that the web was a safe and honest place, but it often seems as if they put gain first and responsibility second.
The Irish Mail on Sunday today reveals that a gloating YouTube video on how to puncture a police stab vest has been making profits for its German presenter and for YouTube’s owners, Google. The presenter of the film is not a terrorist or criminal. He claims his work warns police of the weaknesses of their equipment.
If so, he could surely warn them in private, rather than telling the world how to knife an officer, especially grotesque so soon after Khalid Masood did precisely this to Keith Palmer, the London policeman killed in the attack on Westminster.