Gardaí make 20 complaints of bullying and five of sexual harassment about colleagues
Are And Picture: Sexual Domestic Reported' Violence And 'significantly Under Bullying File
There have been 20 complaints of bullying and five complaints of sexual harassment by gardaí about their colleagues in the last year and a half, the Policing Authority has said.
Separately, Garda chiefs said that 11 gardaí are currently suspended in relation to investigations into sexual assaults and eight are suspended in relation to investigations into domestic violence and coercive control.
While there was some dispute between Garda bosses and Policing Authority members about the interpretation of the figures at a public meeting on Thursday, there was agreement on all sides that incidents of sexual and domestic violence and bullying are "significantly under-reported" in An Garda Síochána.
Commissioner Drew Harris has urged people to come forward, saying there is “no hiding place” in the organisation for abusers or bullies.
He told the authority that he was at the final stages of preparing a report for Justice Minister Helen McEntee into how the force handles domestic and sexual violence cases involving serving officers.
Authority chair Elaine Byrne told the meeting that figures supplied by Commissioner Harris to the authority that morning showed there were 15 incidents of bullying in 2023 and five so far in 2024.
She said there were no incidents of harassment recorded but there were three incidents of complaints of sexual harassment in 2023 and two so far in 2024.
Ms Byrne said the commissioner had repeatedly acknowledged there was “significant under-reporting”.
She cited the 2023 Casey Report into the London Metropolitan Police Service, which she said the commissioner knew about.
She said this report highlighted the length of time internal processes and investigations into such complaints took, how female members found the system to be “stacked against them”, and that they were made to feel they were the ones with the problem.
She said female members could perhaps look at this report and say “why bother?”.
The commissioner, along with Deputy Commissioner Shawna Cox, questioned the figures Ms Byrne cited, suggesting that they may relate to Garda staff or to civilians.
However, the authority chair said “I have to disagree”, and said the Garda document was headed “statistics for bullying for Garda members”.
Ms Byrne later said that while there was a “dispute” over the figures, she hoped the statistics would be clarified. Either way, she said the commissioner had said the incidents were “significantly under-reported”.
Regarding the report being prepared for the minister, Mr Harris said he expected it to be finished next month as he was seeking clarification on some numbers included in it.
He said there was a couple of investigation teams working on it. One issue was the “rigour” of internal reporting of a domestic violence order, in terms of whether it was reported, as mandatory, and how it was recorded in the organisation.
Mr Harris said he wanted to make sure the investigations were “appropriate and rigorous” and to “make sure we have cleaned our every corner”.
Chief Superintendent Catríona Gunne told the meeting that 11 gardaí are currently suspended in relation to sexual assault investigations, and eight regarding investigations into domestic violence or coercive control.
The commissioner said that in relation to internal complaints of sexual harassment and bullying he reassured complainants that experienced detectives would investigate them.