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Watchdog repeats anti-spit hoods concerns

The Policing Authority has repeated its concerns about the use of anti-spit hoods by Gardaí in its latest assessment of the force’s performance during the pandemic.

The policing oversight body said the force had begun an evaluation of the use of such hoods, but it says this review should only be “retrospective in nature and should not be used as a justification for the continued use of anti-spit hoods beyond the public health emergency”.

It has expressed particular concern about the use of anti-spit hoods on vulnerable individuals, particularly children.

Rally

The authority also referred to recent violent confrontations at an anti-mask rally held in Dublin on 22 August, and allegations that Gardaí pushed counter-demonstrators back in an attempt to prevent further violence.

It said this had the effect of preventing the counter-protesters from exercising their right to protest, and it would be raising this issue with the Garda Commissioner at a meeting on 30 September.

The authority says there has been a “relatively low level of incidents” since its last report on how the Gardaí are applying new powers linked to the public health emergency.

But it has repeated concerns about the force’s capacity to accurately record and report a breakdown of which specific powers are being used.

The report reveals that since 3 July, the force has reported more than 30,000 visits to licensed premises to check that they were complying with public health regulation, of which approximately 60% were recorded as being closed.

Domestic violence

The report said organisations working in the area of domestic violence were still “uniformly positive” about Operation Faoiseamh, which was launched in April with the aim of ensuring that victims of domestic abuse were supported and protected during the crisis.

They raised the issue, however, of whether this focus would diminish as the pandemic abates.

Chairperson Bob Collins (pictured) said that, despite increased freedom of movement, the reality of the COVID-19 threat had not diminished, and neither had the extent of the challenge for An Garda Síochána.