Female Garda members targeted by colleagues in ‘offensive’ WhatsApp messages

A Garda investigation is under way to identify members of the force who produced “malicious” and harassing WhatsApp messages about their female colleagues, and which went viral in Garda circles.

In one case, a female senior officer in the Garda was targeted in messages that claimed she had been involved in a drink-driving incident, even though no such crime had taken place.

In other cases, messages claimed named members of the Garda were “scabs” because they had worked overtime on a day when rank and file gardaí decided to withdraw from voluntary overtime as a form of industrial action in a dispute over next Garda rosters.

The inquiry is being carried out by the Garda’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.

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The Garda Deputy Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon on Thursday told a meeting of the Policing Authority that some of the messages, which were spread in recent weeks, may have been generated and shared on Garda-issue mobile phones.

Chairman of the authority, Bob Collins, noted some of the messages were directed against a particular female Garda member. He said the “speed and apparent recklessness with which the messages spread had resulted in Garda Commissioner Drew Harris sending a circular to all Garda members warning those responsible to desist and urging those targeted to come forward and seek supports.”

Mr Collins, the former RTÉ director general, said the respect and trust policing was supposed to be based on was absent in the debacle. He wondered “where was the (Garda) code of ethics” and the human rights obligations of all Garda members to “vindicate the rights” of others.

Ms McMahon said the investigation now under way remained a “work in progress”, adding it was too early to determine how many members of the force had been involved. A crucial aspect of the investigation was to establish the origins of the messages and also the identity of those who ensured they continued to circulate.

Policing Authority member Elaine Byrne described the messages circulated as “offensive, false, inappropriate, malicious”.

She said they amounted to “bullying behaviour”.

In the context of female Garda members being targeted, Ms Byrne also said only eight members of the force in the last decade had made a formal complaint of sexual harassment, adding this figure did not seem “realistic”.

Ms McMahon agreed that such a low number of sexual harassment complaints over a decade was not realistic, adding “any kind of harassment has no place in the Garda organisation”. Senior officers must support those who come forward to lodge complaints and help create an atmosphere that was “conducive” to speaking up, she said.

Ms Byrne said a number of gardaí had in recent times been before the courts on serious charges, including crimes committed against women or children. She added one had resigned from the Garda immediately on pleading guilty to charges. She asked why he was permitted to resign, as it would look very different on his CV going forward compared to being dismissed because of the offences.

Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon said that, legally, the Garda force had no powers to refuse a member’s resignation when it was tendered.

Mr Collins said the fact Garda members accused of serious crimes could simply resign, would be considered by many as “a luxury”.

Separately, it also emerged at the hearing that a number of people who applied to join the Garda force failed pre-employment drug testing and were not accepted into training as a result. The testing was put in place for the first time last month and an unspecified number of positive tests have been returned.