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The Garda Commissioner has said he is concerned about the increase in right-wing extremism in Ireland.<\/p>\nThe Garda Commissioner has said he is concerned about the increase in right-wing extremism in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Drew Harris told a meeting of the Policing Authority that Ireland is not immune to the rise of far-right extremism that is spreading across Europe.<\/p>\n
On the issue of hate crime legislation and online abuse, Mr Harris welcomed the fact there is now a clear-cut definition of hate crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am concerned about right-wing extremism. We can see evidence of it on our shores as we have seen it spread across Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Government launched a public consultation process ahead of an expected strengthening of hate speech laws and the introduction of a specific new offence of \u201chate crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said there needs to be a consistent approach by gardai in dealing with hate crime and they are seeking to develop an online platform so people can report it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to standardize our approach to hate crime across the organisation and develop an online reporting platform to deal with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said minority communities are most affected by it and the motivation for it is one of discrimination and prejudice.<\/p>\n
The meeting also heard that 3,000 gardai nationwide are unable to drive a patrol car using blue lights and sirens to emergencies.<\/p>\n
Many Garda divisions across the country have an insufficient number of members who are authorized and trained to drive at high speed in emergency situations.<\/p>\n
Gardai trained to the higher standard are allowed to use flashing lights, sirens and drive at higher speeds when responding to serious crime incidents.<\/p>\n
Assistant Garda Commissioner David Sheahan told the meeting 342 gardai need to be trained urgently to the basic level of competency while a further 481 gardai need level two competency based driver training.<\/p>\n
Gardai who complete a one-day competency based driver (CBD) level 1 assessment are authorized to drive patrol cars but they have to sign a document promising not to exceed the speed limit or to turn on the siren and lights.<\/p>\n
Gardai with CBD2 training completed are allowed to pursue vehicles at high speeds and use sirens and lights.<\/p>\n
Mr Sheahan said An Garda Siochana can currently train 400 gardai to drive a patrol car and they hope to train 1,500 gardai next year.<\/p>\n
Policing Authority chairwoman Josephine Feehily said the lack of formal training to teach gardai to drive a patrol car posed \u201can organizational risk\u201d and the lack of qualified patrol car drivers is increasing response times to incidents.<\/p>\n
This was Ms Feehily\u2019s last public meeting as chairwoman as she has decided not to seek reappointment when her term ends next month.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said the Garda overtime bill will be two million euro more than expected \u2013 going up from 10 million euro to 12.5 million euro.<\/p>\n
He said they are looking at ways of cutting the overtime bill and how they allocated Garda resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a provision that we supply assistance to the court service \u2013 that is subject to a working group. We also want to look at court attendance and see if we can regulate that instead of having members attend regular summary court hearings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The meeting heard there has been an increase in sexual offences recorded and that there is no clear-cut explanation for the increase.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said it could be down to a combination of more people having confidence in coming forward to report such crimes and an increase in sexual offences generally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was significant under-reporting in sexual offences up until recently so we welcome more reporting of sexual offences. The advantages of the new Garda operational model is that there will be a detective inspector in protective service units to deal with domestic violence and sexual assaults and who have training and expertise in this area,\u201d said Mr Harris.<\/p>\n