The boss of An Garda Síochána (police force in the 26 county bit of Ireland), Drew Harris, was recruited from the cops in the 6 county bit of Ireland. The people running the two states in partitioned Ireland have developed very close social, political and personal relationships since the the 1998 triumph of the Good Friday Agreement. I recently circulated details of Harris’s “Hug-a-Thug” policy towards growing far-right violence in the 26 counties to a 6 county political activist, who commented this was “reminiscent of the historic style of policing up here”.
Ruling class forces were extremely happy about the continuation of partition guaranteed by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. They did not foresee that the foundations of partition in Ireland are more rotten than their constitutional plan conceding a Unionist Veto to a majority of the voting population of the six county state. The Brexit referendum result of 2016 lit a slow-burning fuse under the GFA structure; in the meantime we are witnessing the creation of a possible “United Ireland from Hell” which consists of knitting together the most reactionary features of both partitioned states in Ireland.
The following article from the Cedar Lounge Revolution Blog powerfully illustrates the dangers arising from importing 6 county softly-softly policing methods towards the far-right (loyalist paramilitaries), fine-tuned by Garda boss Drew Harris.
Gardaí were called to the home of Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman on Thursday night when a gang of up to 12 masked men gathered outside his house and huge placards and banners were stretched across his driveway gate, along his wall and fastened to outside polls.
Experts have expressed concern at the increasing harassment and intimidation of public representatives and fear that the threats could escalate, particularly with the European and local elections approaching in June.
Videos of the incident were circulated online and show up to 12 masked men gathered outside the home of Mr O’Gorman in west Dublin.
A large banner was tied across the electronic driveway gate, stating ‘Minister O’Gorman Hates Children’ and three other small banners are attached to railings on his front wall.
Three similar banners were placed against the outside of his wall and a giant banner, saying ‘South Dublin Says No, Close the Borders’ is fastened to polls on the footpath.
As was put to me last week by an activist, were the left involved in this sort of carry on – particularly with masked individuals involved, we’d see a much more, ahem, robust response from the state. Or as another person put it, if this was Sinn Féin we’d get columns from the likes of McDowell that this was the Reichstag Fire.
The Taoiseach is ‘disgusted’ but isn’t the following risible?
Simon Harris said he felt “deeply uncomfortable” that protesters were able to gather outside the Dublin West TD’s house and that he hoped to speak to gardaí on the matter “in due course”.
Mr Harris said that he had spoken with Mr O’Gorman about the situation.
“[I was] utterly horrified to see the situation. We all recognise the right to protest in a democracy, but when you see masked people gathering outside somebody’s family home, I think that’s extraordinarily chilling and disturbing and quite frankly, disgusting,” Mr Harris said.
And:
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said Mr O’Gorman’s “privacy and property have been violated in a disgusting and shocking manner”.
“I’ve spoken to the Garda commissioner. This cannot be tolerated,” she said.
Except it clearly was.
And talking of risible:
Garda HQ has repeatedly said they adopt a “graduated approach” to policing protests and are conscious of not giving conspiratorial and far-right groups propaganda of video recording gardaí arresting them for standing on the street.
Some Garda sources also point out they can not prove the group gathered had put up the banners.
Masked men. Banners. At the same location. Okay.
Difficult not to agree with this:
Maynooth University Professor of European Politics John O’Brennan said: “I think what we say yesterday was just the latest example of efforts to intimidate and harass serving politicians.” He cited a video that circulated online showing an individual subjecting Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin to prolonged verbal abuse and harassment on the street.
“The difference here is that this ‘protest’ took place at the house of a minister,” Prof O’Brennan said.
“We have seen an incremental rise in the number of such provocations in recent years.” He said it was time for the gardaí “to step in decisively” and deal with these acts of harassment and claimed the guards had enough power to do so.
The point isn’t that it was Roderic O’Gorman, or whoever, it is that there’s a pattern of such ‘protests’ from outside the Oireachtas, libraries, homes of politicians and indeed – and as noted in the quote individual politicians such as Eoin Ó Broin, being harassed with little or no intervention by the gardaí. And it could be anyone, a politician, a worker, you or me. The instant masked men appear in this way such activities should be shut down. Where Fine Gael’s newfound, newly lost, rhetoric on law and order has gone is interesting. Whether anything comes of this remains to be seen.
But look again at another pattern, as noted on Friday, with the killing of Josip Strok where the gardaí appeared reluctant to accept this was most likely a hate crime.
Green Party leader and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the episode was “shocking and disgraceful”.
“Where have we arrived where people with scarves over their faces are on our streets, draping horrific, horrible banners on someone’s home. That has to stop. I’d be interested to listen to [Garda Commissioner] Drew Harris, as to what can be done in that regard, because it’s not right,” he told The Irish Times on Friday.
Interesting to see one newspaper columnist this weekend sniff at the very idea people whose houses have been targeted by the far-right would use that term,suggesting it was for the police to make that determination, not say Paul Murphy TD who has experienced much the same as Roderic O’Gorman – an unusual and in its own way troubling line (an actual journalist in the same paper the columnist wrote their piece in clearly ascribed these activities to the far-right in her report on the incidents). Why is that one wonders?
The Garda Representative Association has said the far-right has become emboldened and there has been an increase in assaults on gardaí, politicians and others online and in person.
The GRA, which represents over 11,000 garda members, said that gardaí in urban areas are afraid to pursue fleeing suspects and criminals for fear of being prosecuted and that community gardaí are fearful of using discretion and common sense when helping out vulnerable citizens.
Rank and file gardaí blame Commissioner Drew Harris for this and have accused him of being overzealous in the application of the disciplinary regulations.
But that too is of a piece with the broader noise around this where the name of the game appears to be minimise, minimise, minimise. That’s all very well but pretending there is no issue, or who is responsible for the issue, is about the worst possible response to this.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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