Over a number of years the Irish public has grown accustomed to the declining service provided by An Garda Siochana (the Irish police). Certainly in my childhood the Gardai seemed to be motivated by a sense of public service but this seems to have been largely done away with. The modern face of the Irish police force is of slovenly and poorly trained individuals who seem only concerned with revenue collection on the behalf of the state. In the public mind they have become the enfor
cers of the government's will and little else. A prime example of this was the aggressive line taken with protesters involved in the "Shell to sea" protests. And, some years ago, the conduct of certain gardai during the May Day protests caused national outrage, with newspapers and television news carrying shocking scenes of violence. Interestingly, when the events of May Day were investigated, every member of the force involved claimed not to be able to remember the name of any other gardai also on duty that day. And what was the result of this gross refusal to cooperate? Nothing, just business as usual. Disgraceful.Interestingly, it is often said that people begin to look like what they are. This is true of the gardai also. Today, at the government "think-in" at an Athlone hotel, 200 farmers turned-up to protest against the government's mishandling of the agri-economy. When some of them broke through the police lines in an effort to have their protest heard by the self-sated incompetents who presume to lead us, the gardai (many with batons drawn) threw some of them to the ground and faced-off many others. Again, we saw the horrible vista of our police force, with batons held aloft, facing a crowd of peaceful protesters, many of whom appeared quite elderly. Perhaps they have special training for use when manhandling older people ("go for the legs boys!") as they certainly showed their abilities in this area when knocking elderly civilians to the ground during the Shell protests. Their families must be so proud of them.
But, as I remarked, the gardai have begun to look like precisely what they are: private enforcers for the ruling classes. Many appeared to be sporting baseball caps and seemed to have adopted a stance whereby they stand casually with their baton, held aloft but resting on their shoulder (i.e. ready to strike).
Traditionally Ireland has operated a consensus policing model (i.e. most of the people accept the need for a police force and support them in their work) but this appears to be shifting towards a more coercive model.
With an increasingly unpopular government, interested only in protecting bankers and property developers, and a police-force who seem highly politicised and willing to offer violence to a dissenting citizenry, it is not beyond belief that we could see serious scenes of civil unrest in the coming months and years.
It is time now, I think, for the gardai to take a step back from the government and reconsider their role - otherwise they may end-up being little more than security guards for a defunct and feckless administration.
