Month: September 2024

Having spent over thirty-five years in An Garda Siochana I’ve learned that there are two kinds of people in most communities. The first type consists of those who only think of themselves and selfishly guard their right to be obstructive, awkward and unhelpful. No shortage of those.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have people who go out of their way to help create a better environment for themselves, their neighbours and the community in general. They give their time and energy freely as volunteers to various groups because and they enjoy it and because they are givers. Thankfully there’s no shortage of those either.

I met up with my buddy, John O’Connor, for a coffee recently and we were discussing some of the characters we encountered during our time in uniform. He reminded me of an incident that occurred in the early nineties when we were both operating out of Mayfield Garda Station.

We were in the patrol car together this particular day and as we drove up Wellington Road, we came across a hold up in the traffic. We soon discovered the cause. There was a car double parked at the top of York Hill and the driver was unloading goods from his car into a house.

John got out of the patrol car, approached the man and suggested he should park the car properly as he was causing a problem for other drivers, and traffic was grinding to a halt. The guy replied that he was only delivering household goods for his daughter and didn’t see what the problem was. A common response from selfish motorists.

John once again explained that not only was he badly parked, but he was also at a junction and causing a build-up of traffic. He advised the driver to park the car properly from where he could carry on with his business to his hearts content.

Once again though, the driver decided that he was doing nothing wrong and refused to move. At that stage John’s patience had run out and he took out his notebook and pen. He demanded the driver’s name and address at which point our friendly driver realised that he was in a spot of bother.

He shouted in a panicked voice to his wife who was sitting in the passenger seat, “He’s booking me darling; he’s booking me.” That made me laugh because those of a certain vintage will remember the 1970’s TV series Hawaii Five-0 featuring Jack Lord as Detective Steve McGarrett and his trusty sidekick Danno, played by James McArthur.

McGarrett always got his man and at the end of each episode when the culprit was finally arrested, he would issue the same instruction to his partner, “Book ‘em Danno.” Maybe our bad driver friend had grown up on a diet of Hawaii Five-0.

We dealt with characters like that regularly, but the decent people far outnumbered them. The ten years I spent in Mayfield were memorable ones even though I had a different impression of the place when I was first posted there in 1990. I thought I had landed in the Bronx.

Mayfield had a tough reputation in those days and not without justification. There were a lot of social problems, a high rate of unemployment and incidents of anti-social behaviour and criminality were rife. Burglaries, criminal damage, car theft and joyriding were nightly events, so it was a busy place.

There were some remarkable people in Mayfield too though working hard to make a difference. I was searching the Irish Examiner Archives recently and came across a report in The Evening Echo from 1979 which covered the sixth annual general meeting of the Mayfield Community Association held at the Mayfield Youth Centre.

It would have meant very little to me back then if I had seen it but it mentioned people like Cllrs. Ted Tynan, Frank Nash and Maureen Quill, Rev. Fr. Donal Lenihan and the chairman, Joe Mullane, Una Sheehan, Con Quirke, Mary Watt and Avril Daly.

The AGM received reports from Community Games, Festival Committee, Summer Recreation Scheme, Youth Club, Glen Action, Information Centre Turf Scheme, Building Committee, Senior Citizen and Fund-Raising Committees. There was a lot going on.

There were others beavering away in the area too like Brid Houlihan, Dan Sexton, Noel Sheahan, Tom Walshe, Mary Connolly and many more. Some, sadly, are no longer with us but they made a difference, and their legacy lives on. Little did I realise how much that Echo piece would relate to me in later years.

Community policing was in its infancy in the early nineties when I got involved and I was immediately impressed with the enthusiasm of the volunteers involved in the various community groups. I worked with many of those mentioned in The Echo piece and we proved that with the local authority, gardai and the community working together, much could be achieved.

Unfortunately, the economic downturn in the late noughties undid a lot of the success. There was a reduction in the resources available to community gardai and to the City Council and the wheels came off that particular wagon, which was a huge mistake in my opinion, but we’ve been over that ground before.

I still remember fondly the good times we had and the families I met. People like Mary Connolly who lived in Boyne Crescent. We remained friends for nearly thirty years and long after I had left the area.

Mary was involved in the Community Games, Brian Dillons Hurling and Football Club, St. Josephs Community Association, the local resident’s group and Neighbourhood Watch. She was the essence of community spirit.

Activists like Mary will always be missed by their community whereas characters like the guy who refused to move his car are soon forgotten.  

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has once again thrown the cat among the pigeons as he is wont to do. There’s no such thing as bad publicity they say, and the Ryanair man certainly knows how to create a headline.

He caused a stir recently when he suggested that there should be a limit on the amount of alcohol consumed by intending passengers in airports to reduce the disorder on flights. Mr. O’Leary said passengers should be restricted to two drinks per journey to curb what he says is an increase in antisocial behaviour and violence.

He doesn’t specify how many drinks should be made available to his passengers once they’re aboard the Ryanair plane though, but he did complain that violent outbursts were occurring weekly with alcohol and in his opinion, it was difficult for airlines to identify inebriated people at the gate, especially when boarding in a group.

They don’t seem to have a problem identifying an oversize cabin bag though whether part of a group or individually, but that’s another story.

Mr. O’Leary continued, “As long as they can stand up and shuffle, they will get through. Then when the plane takes off, we see the misbehaviour.”

 The airlines can’t absolve themselves of responsibility as easily as that though. The rules are clear according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Whether deliberate or not, it is a criminal offence to be drunk on an aircraft. In fact, the act carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

As well as that, passengers can only drink alcohol provided by the airline on the flight. You can bring duty free drinks on to the plane but cannot drink them on board.

Disruptive passengers may also be asked to reimburse the airline with the cost of a diversion which typically range from £10,000 – £80,000 depending on the size of the aircraft and where it diverts to, but I don’t know if this is enforced.

A few months ago, I wrote about an incident I encountered while travelling through Gatwick Airport in London. I called into a bar/restaurant for some breakfast at about 9.30am and the place was busy. There were six guys in their mid to late twenties sitting at a table and the drink was flowing.

They were extremely loud. They were playing drinking games while noisily cheering and roaring each other on. Their behaviour was way over the top and I wondered about the condition these guys would in by the time they were due to board.

I expected a member of staff to approach them and advise them to calm down. I was there for about 45 miniutes and I didn’t see that happen, but they were served with more alcohol when it was obvious they had enough. Surely the bar staff have a responsibility there.

And what about the responsibility of airline staff? Drunk passengers must present their passport and boarding pass at the boarding gate. Should staff there assess the condition of drunk passengers and question their fitness to travel?

Disruptive passengers don’t just suddenly get drunk as they approach the boarding gate. It’s also highly unlikely that the first time their behaviour becomes unruly or noticeable is when they take their seat on the plane. From my experience, you can spot these characters a mile off and well before they need to start thinking about getting on the plane.

The guys I saw in Gatwick Airport, were worse for wear long before their flight and should have been identified before they got into that state. An early word of advice might prevent further carnage. If my guys had been approached by security or by some other official and advised that their behaviour was being monitored and could result in them missing their flight, it might have had an impact.

Similarly, people approaching the boarding gate in a drunken state should be refused further progress.

I was on an Easyjet flight last week out of London Gatwick and across the aisle from me were two guys, mid-thirties, drinking small bottles of spirits. They were acting immaturely and spilled a drink over the other chap in the window seat beside them. They weren’t out of control, but they were messy. They were buying double measures and whenever they asked for more alcohol they were given it, no questions asked.

Further up the plane there were two females, late thirties/early forties. I spotted them earlier and they looked tired and emotional as they say, and about forty-five minutes out of Larnaca Airport there was a bit of disruption. The women were being called out by other passengers sitting nearby for vaping.

This led to some heated exchanges between the passengers and when the cabin crew got involved, they got some verbal abuse for their trouble. When we landed, we were instructed by the captain to remain in our seats as the police would be boarding the plane.

The two women were waving to everyone as they were escorted off the aircraft and they didn’t seem the least bit remorseful. Meanwhile the rest of us were stuck in our seats until their foolishness played out.

Our flight was an hour late already and this latest incident delayed us further while people waited in the arrivals hall to collect friends and relatives. It’s easy to identify drunk passengers before boarding and the airline has a legal obligation at that stage to send them packing. If drunk passengers were refused entry more often, it would reduce the amount of disruption, delays, diversions and bad behaviour.

So maybe the authorities should start enforcing the legislation that already exists for dealing with drunks which would make life more comfortable for everyone concerned and would be a lot easier to enforce than trying to marshal a two-drink rule.

Two things caught my eye from the coverage of the recent anti-immigrant riots in the UK. The first was the guy who was face down on the ground struggling with police officers who were attempting to put handcuffs on him. He could be heard shouting “I’m English, I’m English.”

That fact that he was loudly declaring his nationality told us all we needed to know about his mindset. In his warped thought process, his nationality absolved him of all responsibility. He was perfectly within his rights to behave like a hooligan to protect his country from invading foreigners.

He was convinced the police had made a mistake until he found himself in the back of a police van and if that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been dealing with the same bigots here. Our heroes wrap themselves in the tricolour which they believe gives them licence to set fire to buildings and assault gardai. Inspired by false information, they engage in criminality.

The second incident showed a big adult male, aggressively taunting a line of policemen in riot gear standing behind full body shields. At one point, he got too close to one policeman who shoved his shield forward knocking the guy on his backside.

Another character who filmed the incident on his phone focussed on the shoulder number of the policeman concerned. He shouted the number repeatedly, triumphantly proclaiming the fact that he had identified the culprit.

He was certain his evidence would have the officer hauled over the coals for his unwarranted assault on a peaceful protester and might even get him dismissed from the force. He must have been surprised the following morning to discover that the tables had turned.

Some of his counterparts were already before the courts and facing time in prison. He was probably stunned to find he had become the bad guy while the policeman was getting a pat on the back for a job well done.

Something else that might sound familiar too is the reaction of these characters in the court when faced with the wrath of the magistrate. There is a common theme – apologies, a sense of shame, regret and the usual lame excuses. It was the drink that did it, I was just following the crowd, I didn’t mean any harm etc etc.

I have been advocating for a tougher stance in this jurisdiction when it comes to civil disobedience, and I have taken some flak for it but I’m sticking to my guns. We have seen a gradual increase in the level of violence towards gardai during the so-called ‘peaceful protests’ and if this is allowed to continue it will only get worse.

I experienced a few skirmishes with small mobs in the course of my policing life and it was difficult to maintain discipline while being assaulted by thugs who had no respect for the law and didn’t follow any rules. Facing rocks and stones armed only with a piece of timber and a plastic shield for protection was no fun. Police officers should not be expected to have to tolerate that nonsense. 

Matthew Syed wrote a great piece in The Sunday Times where he gave some insight into what the police faced during those incidents:

‘In Liverpool, police officers, men and women, stood firm as a baying mob pelted them with fireworks, petrol bombs and rocks. Footage later emerged from a helmet-cam and it was like something out of a war zone. Frankly, I’d have understood if they had all fled.’

‘But these people feel an acute sense of duty, a recognition that public safety sometimes requires that they confront danger. Listen carefully and you can hear them encouraging each other as the missiles fly: “Stay strong!” and “We can do this!”

‘In Rotherham, police officers faced attacks with concrete slabs, fire extinguishers and a makeshift battering ram as they stood shoulder to shoulder against a crowd hellbent on entering a hotel to commit mass murder. Split-second decisions during scenes of utter chaos are the only thing that prevented an atrocity of an unprecedented kind.’

‘Officers were bloodied, one knocked unconscious, but they didn’t buckle. One asylum seeker was in tears as he paid tribute to those who prevented his lynching.’

What has been very refreshing is the public response to the tough stance taken in the UK. It has been hugely positive and that shouldn’t be a great surprise because the vast majority of people everywhere are decent law-abiding citizens. The peaceful anti-racism marches that followed in the wake of these disturbances prove something.

They prove it’s possible to stage a protest without causing injury to people or damage to property. It shows too that the silent majority can be a powerful force when they speak up. They delivered a kick up the backside to the anarchists and that’s what we should be doing here.

I said recently that our lack of police action is emboldening these miscreants and encouraging more outrageous behaviour. Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee said, “We’ve seen many hundreds of protests. The vast, vast majority peaceful but a small number where a violent element has tried to undermine our society.”

She condemned utterly and completely any attacks on gardaí and said any such attack represents an attack on our entire community, an attack on our very democracy and our fundamental rights. There was a serious example of that recently when An taoiseach, Simon Harris and his family were the victims of an online death threat.

You can’t get much closer to the very heart of our democracy than that. He has responded with a warning to social media giants that he plans to tackle online threats and harassment. That’s very welcome but it’s time to come down heavily on the offenders in the real world too.

I was reminded recently of an incident that happened a few years ago involving my late mother-in-law, Moyra Swords. She was in her nineties at the time and her eyesight was fading badly. Her hearing wasn’t great either. She was travelling from Dungarvan with her daughter Ann, when they were stopped at a garda checkpoint.

When the garda approached the driver’s window, Moyra immediately began rummaging through her handbag to find some change for the garda. She thought it was someone collecting for a charity and happily handed money to Ann to give to the garda.

Ann was mortified and told her mother to put the bag away in case the gesture was construed differently. She had visions of poor old Moyra being hauled off in handcuffs for trying to bribe an officer of the law. Thankfully the garda saw the funny side of it.

Moyra always insisted on leaving a tip wherever she went so she would have survived well in America given her willingness to hand over money. She wouldn’t have had a problem with their tipping culture unlike some of her counterparts.

It was reported recently that a restaurant owner in America wanted all Europeans banned from the country because they were useless tippers. He had obviously been upset by some customers from this side of the pond but having an issue with Europeans not tipping is ironic given that it was the Europeans who introduced tipping to the States in the first place.

According to Businessinsider.com the origins of tipping are uncertain, but historians say it likely began in Europe during the Middle Ages, when many people lived under a feudal system. Tipping emerged as a master-serf custom in which masters would tip their servants for good service. By the 1700’s, it extended to customers tipping service-industry workers. 

Historians say tipping in the USA was almost non-existent prior to about 1840 but in the years leading up to the Civil War, many wealthy Americans discovered the practice on their travels to Europe. When they returned, some began tipping as a way to signal their status and show off their worldliness. Europeans also began immigrating to the US, bringing the custom of tipping with them. 

Initially, most Americans didn’t take to tipping in part because they said it encouraged classism and further distinguished the wealthy from the common person. Anti-tipping sentiment persisted and in 1904, the Anti-Tipping Society of America was founded and its 100,000 members pledged to not tip anyone for a year.

In 1915, Iowa passed legislation that said anyone convicted of accepting a tip of any kind would be fined or imprisoned for a maximum of 30 days. In Arkansas, any waiter found guilty of accepting a tip was fined $10. But in 1919, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state’s anti-tipping law was unconstitutional, and by 1926 all anti-tipping laws were off the books. 

Now, Americans are tipping more than ever before so what about us? Well, for those of us not familiar with the rules of the tipping game in this neck of the woods, Irishgraves.com offer the Complete Guide to Tipping in Ireland.

They suggest that while it is not mandatory, it is a way to show appreciation. Around 10% of the bill is usual for restaurants, and 10-15% for taxis and tour guides. Service staff prefer cash tips, but it’s also okay to tip with a credit card but they tell us to always check if there’s already a service charge on the bill.

In pubs, tipping isn’t expected per drink but rounding up or giving about 10% of the total bill for table service is polite and for hotel staff like housekeeping or porters, €1 to €2 per day is appreciated if you liked their service. At restaurants or cafes in Ireland when a service charge is not added, tipping your server 10-15% of the total bill is customary.

I have an issue with that. Staying in a hotel in Ireland is expensive and so is eating out. I was at a restaurant recently with the family and our drinks bill alone, two pints and two glasses of house wine, came to €27.30. Add that to the cost of the meal, then include a tip of 15% and that amounts to a tidy sum.

I didn’t leave a tip on that occasion and I’m slow to tip in this country because we pay too much for pretty much everything already, including eating out, hotel accommodation and alcohol. I spend a lot of time in Cyprus where restaurants are reasonably priced so going for a meal isn’t a major consideration and I will happily leave a tip.

Maybe in Ireland we could learn something from Japanese culture. Tips in Japan are considered an insult according to Readers Digest. The Japanese consider exceptional service to be part of the job, and employees take great pride in their work. The advice for visitors is not to tip regardless of whether you’re dining at a high-end restaurant in Tokyo or taking a taxi in Kyoto.

Instead, Japanese culture emphasizes hospitality, known as “Omotenashi,” which ensures customers receive the best service possible without the expectation of additional compensation.

Taxi drivers in Japan do not expect tips and that includes telling them to keep the change. The exact fare is all that is required. Professional tour guides and translators in Japan don’t expect tips. A heartfelt thank-you or a positive review will suffice as an expression of your appreciation. 

It’s also worth noting that in some places, tipping is even considered to be offensive. So, to avoid upsetting anyone and in the interest of being respectful, I’m opting out of the tipping culture.

The next time a tip is required, I’m going to offer a heartfelt thank you instead.

I was listening to the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk recently and he was interviewing Fine Gael Senator Maria Byrne. She was promoting the idea of pop-up garda stations which she said could be used to deter crime and restore confidence in communities. She said the link between anti-social behaviour and a lack of policing presence was clear.

“It would be a temporary Garda station, a unit that isn’t on the main street in our towns, villages, and cities, which Gardaí could use to have a presence and provide information,” she said. “It’s all about having a greater presence on the street, it increases confidence which is something we all want.”

“The roll out of more pop-up stations on a temporary basis would provide those living in rural communities, greater access to Garda services and provide a greater sense of security especially to the elderly in these communities.”

That last sentence caught my attention. Had she had forgotten who was responsible for closing those rural garda stations in the not-too-distant past? It was the security of those very same elderly people that many of us were concerned about at the time of those closures, but our concerns fell on deaf ears.

The then Minister for Justice, France Fitzgerald, assured the rural communities they would have a better garda service as a result of the closures, but Senator Byrne seems to have doubts about how that worked out.

The main point she was trying to get across though was that the physical presence of gardai on the streets increases public confidence and deters criminality. She won’t get any argument from me there. The various garda representative associations have been saying that for years.

Having gardai on the beat was a strategy An Garda Siochana followed for decades. It was an essential element in maintaining law and order. Towns and cities were divided into small sections called ‘beats’, patrolled by gardai on foot, twenty-four hours a day.

Gardai on foot patrols prevented and detected crime, built a rapport with the local community and gave communities a sense of safety. The patrols were easily organised and didn’t cost much but not everyone appreciated their value.

There were many who wanted to change the policing style under the guise of modernisation. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI), The Garda Siochana Inspectorate, The Irish Policing Authority, Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission and endless policing plans over the years have had their say on how policing should be managed.

Many reports have been published, strategies identified, proposals and recommendations adopted and plans for the future of the policing in Ireland unveiled. Vast quantities of ink and paper were used to print forest loads of paper and what did we end up with?

Well, for starters we have an under resourced police force, led by senior officers from outside jurisdictions and we have a force that is struggling to recruit new membership because it is not seen as an attractive career.

We have reached new depths too. For the first time ever, a motion of no confidence was expressed in the garda commissioner by the rank-and-file membership. We have a leadership that can’t find a candidate to replace the current commissioner when he retires because of a financial issue which, if it isn’t resolved, is likely to result in the appointment to the top job of another officer from outside the jurisdiction.

It’s fair to say that despite all the restructuring, the organisation is in crisis. Between them all, they have managed to strangle An Garda Siochana with paperwork and oversight, and in my opinion, policing has been set back thirty years.

And the future isn’t looking too bright either when the politicians think the solution lies in pop-up garda stations, especially without considering the implications.

The County Limerick Senator told Pat Kenny that her aim was for “people to have confidence” by seeing Gardaí on the street. “A Garda presence on the street is very welcome and has started to increase, especially here in Limerick,” she said. “I do believe that having a Garda station where guards can come and go is really important.”

She criticised how commonplace drug dealing has become on the streets. “We need to keep fighting against it.” she said. “The presence of Gardaí on the street and the roll-out of body cams is beginning to help deter it, and that’s something we need to build on.” She also suggested that these pop-up garda stations would be handy if gardai wanted to interview someone or bring them in for questioning.

As a legislator, Senator Byrne should be more familiar with the legal requirements surrounding the detention and questioning of people in custody. Specifically, The Criminal Justice Act 1984 (Treatment of Persons in Custody in Garda Síochána Stations) Regulations 1987 might have something to say about having prisoners in pop-up stations

She also suggested recruiting more civilians to run some of the offices to put more Gardaí back out on the street, but I was under the impression that the civilianisation programme in An Garda Siochana was well underway. Not before time either. I can remember being told that civilianisation was imminent when I was stationed in Dublin over forty years ago but maybe the senator is better informed.

If her opinion on policing is indicative of the current thinking of our legislators, then the future of policing in Ireland looks bleak. The new Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 is due shortly which will add to the growing pile of consultant’s reports, expert working group findings, strategies, and designing programmes and who knows what that will bring.

In the meantime, I have a suggestion. Let’s return to the best strategy of them all – put gardai back on the beat where they belong.