TWO INVESTIGATIONS have begun into the conduct of gardaí associated with the arrest of two women during protests over the Corrib gas project in north Mayo late last week.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission said it had initiated an inquiry “in the public interest” into “reported Garda conduct”.
A separate investigation is also being conducted by a senior member of the force to establish the facts and report on the matter.
Several members of the force have been asked to account for their comments and put them in context but have not been suspended. It is understood the Garda investigation is unlikely to treat the incident as a criminal matter. It may instead be the subject of internal disciplinary procedure.
However, one of the two women who is due to meet Garda ombudsman staff tomorrow to lodge a formal complaint says she believes it is inappropriate for the force to be investigating its own officers.
“This should be a matter for the Minister for Justice, at least,” the woman, who does not wish to be identified, told The Irish Times.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he believed it would be inappropriate to comment as it might prejudice the ombudsman investigation.
Minister for Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte has described the alleged audio-taped remarks by officers as “unedifying” in the Dáil, in response to Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris.
The inquiries were initiated in response to the discovery that members of the force were inadvertently recorded on a video camera, which they had earlier confiscated. The members were heard joking about threatening to deport and rape one of the women who had refused to give her name during her arrest. At one point, a senior garda could be heard saying: “Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you.”
The 37-minute recording on the video camera, which was not fully switched off, also features differences of opinion between the gardaí in the car over use of equipment and training to deal with protests.
The two women, who were travelling in separate vehicles to Belmullet Garda station, had been arrested on a public road for alleged public order offences and released without charge.
One of the women said: “We believe this incident was not unique and that women living in the area have had experience of such remarks and threats and have been ignored. Their situation is pretty terrifying.”
The ombudsman said it had not received a complaint on the matter yesterday morning but initiated the investigation under section 102(4) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.
Spokesman Kieran FitzGerald said that “some serious remarks and some serious conduct” had been alleged, which, “if proven” would reflect badly on society in general and the Garda Síochána in particular.
The ombudsman has received a number of previous complaints relating to various aspects of policing of the Corrib gas project.
It is understood that a complaint was lodged shortly after the ombudsman was established in May 2007, alleging that remarks of a sexual nature had been made by a member of the force to the husband of a woman who had been previously stopped on the road.
The alleged incident was deemed to be outside the timeline for the ombudsman to act, as it had occurred the previous year.
In 2007, its request to then justice minister Brian Lenihan to review policing practices related to the Corrib project was turned down.
An ombudsman recommendation to discipline a senior officer – no longer stationed in the area – was referred to the Garda Commissioner, arising from the handling of a Corrib gas-related protest in 2007.
It is understood that the recommendation has not been accepted to date.