General query re legal basis for Garda discretion

Soundings

Footpath parking is rife in Ireland, and a very large number of motorists seem to think that it is of no consequence at all to park wholly or partly on a footpath. This despite the fact that it is illegal under the 1997 Traffic & Parking Regulations and is clearly identified as a no-no in the Rules of the Road (page 116). Taking of disabled people's parking bays is also rampant.

Of course, the key to tackling this illegal, dangerous, selfish, ignorant, anti-social and abusive behaviour is rigorous enforcement.

The Garda Siochana is the principal statutory body with the responsibility to enforce such regulations. Local Authorities play a major role also, and the two 'forces' often collaborate.

However, non-enforcement of footpath parking is also rampant. In my experience as a pedestrian rights activist, the most frequent response from Gardai is indifference and inaction.

Furthermore, Traffic Wardens can often be observed turning a blind eye to parking infringements by Garda personnel, even when the illegally parked vehicles are personal transport only and the circumstances apparently do not require such actions, eg Garda merely showing up for work at the office or popping in to the bank to do personal business.

So, my general queries are these:

What legislation allows Gardai discretion to ignore lawbreaking, or indeed sanction it?

Are Gardai obliged in any way, whether by legislation or a code of discipline, to enforce the law, especially when requested to do so by a citizen?

Are members of the Garda exempt from all traffic and parking regulations all the time, regardless of the circumstances? For example, can a Garda park his personal vehicle in a disabled parking bay just because he doesn't want to pay the car-park tariff or because no other space is available or because the disabled space is handily located right beside the Garda station?

McCrack

Just clarify something for me here. On June 1st last are you saying you were in control/custody of a child and decided to step out onto a public road to stage a protest by stopping traffic with that child in your arms or in buggy?

ScumLord

Guards would ignore things they see as trivial but surely once someone reports it they have to act if it's a clear breach of the law. I really don't like overbearing guards but at the same time people in Ireland park in the most ridiculous and dangerous places.

McCrack

Soundings wrote: »

... a line of cars obstructing the pavement ... and which was causing pedestrians, including me as a parent wheeling a buggy, to walk out in front of traffic.

I apprreciate that but in your second paragraph you state that on "1st last I was threatened with arrest, and with having my child forcibly taken from me under the 1991 Child Care Act, for daring to stage a brief pedestrian rights protest that held up a small number of motorists for less than five minutes".

In this instance I would be agreeing with the Garda that said this to you and he/she would be well within their right to arrest you under the Public Order Act for willfully obstructing traffic. They used discretion and didnt. You should be grateful for that.

By the overall tone of your post I feel your issue isnt with people parking cars across footpaths but with An Garda Siochana.

Really and truly your best course of action is to make contact with your local elected representitives and your local Garda Superintentent.

Committing breaches of the Public Order Act endangering yourself and your child is not the way to proceed.

Turner

Soundings wrote: »

Are members of the Garda exempt from all traffic and parking regulations all the time, regardless of the circumstances? For example, can a Garda park his personal vehicle in a disabled parking bay just because he doesn't want to pay the car-park tarriff or because no other space is available or because the disabled space is handily located right beside the Garda station?

If they are on duty, Yes.

Soundings

Chief--- wrote: »

If they are on duty, Yes.

Seems so open to abuse. I find it hard to believe that the exemption clause gives them carte blanche to do anything they damn well please.

I must check with a Higher Authority, eg the Garda Inspectorate.

Some of the Garda parking behaviour I have observed and noted (eg blocking the fire exit of a primary school with kids inside) is just outrageous. Often unnecessary too. What non-emergency duty of the Gardai is so pressing as to warrant taking a disabled parking space for a whole day, when there's another car-park five minutes' walk away?

The problem with such carry-on is that it only serves to bring the law and the law enforcers into disrepute as well as fostering a culture of cynicism, apathy and chronic non-compliance among members of the public.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Hooch

Soundings wrote: »

Seems so open to abuse. I find it hard to believe that the exemption clause gives them carte blanche to do anything they damn well please.

I must check with a Higher Authority, eg the Garda Inspectorate.

Some of the Garda parking behaviour I have observed and noted (eg blocking the fire exit of a primary school with kids inside) is just outrageous. Often unnecessary too. What non-emergency duty of the Gardai is so pressing as to warrant taking a disabled parking space for a whole day, when there's another car-park five minutes' walk away?

The problem with such carry-on is that it only serves to bring the law and the law enforcers into disrepute as well as fostering a culture of cynicism, apathy and chronic non-compliance among members of the public.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Garda Síochána Ombutsman Commision. No need to rant and rave on this forum about what you think is legal or illegal. Ask them and make a complaint if you so wish.

Please refrain from Garda Bashing on a legal discussion thread.:)

Soundings

nice guy always wrote: »

Garda Síochána Ombutsman Commision. No need to rant and rave on this forum about what you think is legal or illegal. Ask them and make a complaint if you so wish.

Please refrain from Garda Bashing on a legal discussion thread.:)

Looks like a bit of "backseat modding" creeping in here...

~~~~~~~

"No need to rant and rave"? To my knowledge, the best example so far of what you glibly refer to as "Garda bashing" came from Mr Justice Frederick Morris who conducted the Tribunal of Inquiry into complaints concerning Gardai in the Donegal Division.

A 2006 Morris Tribunal report found "staggering" levels of indiscipline and insubordination, not just in Donegal, but throughout the Garda Siochana. Morris, not a man given to "ranting and raving" I understand, referred to a "core of mischief-making members who will not obey orders, who will not follow procedures, who will not tell the truth and who have no respect for their officers."

IMO, there is no evidence that this culture has changed substantially and sustainably among rank-and-file Gardai over the last three years. Challenge a Garda strongly enough on a procedural issue, and you will see the thick blue line hardening very quickly indeed.

The Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations 2007 were attended to address the problems identified by Morris. However, the "ah shur, it'll do" culture of non-accountability is so endemic, deep-rooted and normalised in this country that it will be years before the force is widely regarded by all strata of our society as a thoroughly professional outfit.

Police forces in other jurisdictions have been found guilty of even worse behaviour of course. But nearly thirty years ago, as a youth soaking wet behind the ears walking the streets of London at the height of the Troubles, I found more courtesy and professionalism among ordinary Bobbies on the street than I ever found among the Gardai. Having gone to London expecting to be treated as low-life by the constabulary, since Paddies were far from popular at the time, I recall being pretty staggered myself by the contrast I found between Gardai and their English counterparts. This impression has remained with me ever since.

This is not to impugn the reputation of all those fine Gardai who are doing their absolute best in sometimes very difficult circumstances to "achieve the highest attainable level of personal protection, community commitment and State security." These are indeed "excellent people delivering policing excellence" as referred to in the Garda mission statement.

The reasons for including in this forum just a few of many possible anecdotes about individual Gardai and their abject lack of professionalism and community commitment are (a) to demonstrate that such incidents are all too common, (b) that such incidents create a very poor impression among the general public and set a bad example for young people in particular, and (c) to describe the context for my queries re the legislative framework that a citizen or community group can rely on in order to engage constructively and effectively with the Gardai to have some issue addressed. Public perceptions and public confidence are essential ingredients in the overall mix.

My fellow pedestrian rights / road safety campaigners have repeatedly gone to the Gardai seeking action on illegal, dangerous and inconsiderate parking (let's not start on the eight out of ten of motorists who break the speed limit!) and have consistently been met with indifference, inaction and ignorance. Revealingly, two of them are from other countries and so are used to getting a quite different response from police officers. One reported a car obstructing a pedestrian crossing just around the corner from a Garda station. The response of the Garda on the desk? "You're English, aren't you?" Another, on expressing her culture shock at encountering gross levels of traffic and parking chaos, was simply told "this isn't Australia".

Indeed it isn't. It's Ireland, as if anybody could fail to notice, and so despite our former smug satisfaction at having spawned that mythical and now mortally wounded creature called the Celtic Tiger, we are in many ways still painfully going through what someone referred to as our "post-colonial adolescence".

This is why we need a clear framework of rights, laws and professional standards, based on best practice in Europe and internationally and with built-in systems of accountability, so that the citizen at street level can confidently demand at least a minimum level of service from officers of the state, without -- and this is crucial -- having to go through a whole rigmarole of making a formal complaint on every occasion regardless of its level of seriousness.

That way, everyone including the Gardai themselves clearly knows how the job should be done. The citizen needs to be informed, and that's why my queries above are in the Legal Discussion forum. (Perhaps there should be a separate Garda Bashing Forum -- the Mods will be very busy there.) Such a level of awareness might well prevent a situation developing, through frustration and conflict, into something necessitating a formal complaint.

Conor Brady, the Garda Ombudsman, reported in 2008 that over 2800 admissible complaints had been received in that year, 80% of which were against rank-and-file Garda officers. If every citizen went to the Garda Ombudsman with every complaint or thwarted request on every occasion, the system would get bogged down. Such a formal process should be reserved for more serious infringements. For the smaller yet still significant things, there ought to be an easier, more accessible and more immediate process whereby a citizen can seek action and insist on accountability at local level. It is absurd in this day and age to have to turn to a State agency like the GSOC in order to try to persuade rank-and-file Gardai to have good manners and not to turn a blind eye to everyday lawbreaking and lack of consideration by motorists.

eggseleven

I think the guards have much more pressing and significant work to be doing than to be devoting time to ensure pedestrians rights e.g. tackling gangland crime and other flagrant abuses of the criminal justice system. Pedestrians rights are hardly an enshrined constitutional right and is the most trivial complaint I have ever heard, wholly indicative of the busybody type that effectively stymies the good work of the guards.

I am sure any Garda complaints body would dismiss your complaint very rapidly....

Soundings

eggseleven wrote: »

I think the guards have much more pressing and significant work to be doing than to be devoting time to ensure pedestrians rights e.g. tackling gangland crime and other flagrant abuses of the criminal justice system. Pedestrians rights are hardly an enshrined constitutional right and is the most trivial complaint I have ever heard, wholly indicative of the busybody type that effectively stymies the good work of the guards.

I am sure any Garda complaints body would dismiss your complaint very rapidly....

It's absurd and ill-informed to suggest that because gangland crime is a major problem in certain areas then all Gardai in all parts of the country are always frightfully busy doing "real" policing. That's why there's a Traffic Corps, for example, and why Gardai are often found on traffic duty.

The idea that Gardai are all terribly busy people who simply don't have the time to attend to all the demands made on them was also comprehensively demolished by the Morris Tribunal:

"The first garda called to investigate had gone to the pub. Others were on a meal break and refused to be disturbed."

That whole debacle started with a hit-and-run incident, as you may recall.

Another anecdote from my own experience also exposes this fallacy. Car-drivers attending an evening event during winter decided it would be handy if they just took over the single footpath on a narrow, winding, badly-lit urban road. A mature residential area, with a high proportion of older people. Elderly couples out for their evening constitutional having to walk out on the road. Gardai called to deal with it. They come to the location and spend a good deal of time and energy locating the offending drivers in order to get them to park their cars more fully on the footpath because they were protruding too far into the road. Gardai asked to intervene again, this time by a personal caller to the station. As it's a dark and stormy night, lots of Gardai hanging around the station, some staring intently at computer screens. They refuse to respond, saying they can't leave the station in case there's a major emergency and they're suddenly needed elsewhere. No such emergency occurs that night. No such emergency that week. No such emergency that month...

Pedestrian rights and pedestrian safety a "trivial" matter? And what about the rights of children, the elderly and the disabled?

Perhaps your cynical and ignorant attitude, all too common among the Irish, explains why footpath abuse by motorists is so prevalent.

Do you also regard death and injury among pedestrians as "trivial"? The Road Safety Authority reported a 27% increase in pedestrian deaths in the last few years, which is why they're preparing a pedestrian safety strategy.

The Pedestrian Road Safety Action Plan Technical Report (April 2009) states the following on Page 19:

"Walking with or against traffic accounts for a significant number of injuries each year, and suggests that footways may not be provided."

However, the footnote to this point suggests another possibility:

"a built up/ non-built up comparison would be expected to reveal that these are occurring in the latter, but in fact approximately 60% of these injuries occur in areas defined as ‘built up’."

Though not all built-up areas have footpaths (often due to failure of Local Authorities or Developers to properly complete works) most do.

Why would 60% of people who are subsequently injured when struck by a vehicle choose to walk in front of traffic if they have a proper footpath available to them?

Alcohol is likely to be a factor (another social phenomenon in Ireland that has been allowed to spiral out of control). Also, in some cases this behaviour may occur because the footpaths are in some way impassable or unsuitable.

However, as my own observations regularly make clear, footpath parking is extremely common and frequently forces people into that exact situation of "walking with or against traffic".

The "busybody" accusation is another classic and abusive cop-out. The Gardai are "too busy" and so are exonerated. Concerned and safety-minded citizens are "too busy" in their own way and so are somehow culpable.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Turner

some people really have too much free time on their hands!

Soundings

Chief--- wrote: »

some people really have too much free time on their hands!

Yes, indeed they do. They claim to be employed (unlike the 400,000 people in Ireland who are today jobless) but somehow manage to keep a close enough eye on attempted serious discussions in order to reach into their bag of searing put-downs and pull out wee rubber mouses of wit.

Thank you for reminding me why I make only very rare excursions into these fora, in order to sound out where the bog-standard Irish mentality (usually male) is in regard to certain issues.

It would appear that boards.ie is about on a par with politics.ie, in that much of it is a garden shed in which certain people go to play their little power-trip games.

But that's the electronic media for you.

McCrack

Soundings the forum you have posted in is Legal Discussion and your opening post and subsequent ones don't actually have any constructive input into legal issues and the development thereof.

What you have posted is a rant and a self-indulged monologue and this is not the forum for doing that. I don't actually know where you might be better off posting your thoughts but all I can say is this forum is not the place for it.

oceallachain

Soundings wrote: »

Thank you for reminding me why I make only very rare excursions into these fora, in order to sound out where the bog-standard Irish mentality (usually male) is in regard to certain issues.

Are the Gardai not supposed to police the Irish people whilst essentially representing the Irish people. Irish people view parking violations as minor so the Gardai will also.

Although I agree pedestrian deaths on our roads, as with all deaths, is a shameful and tragic occurrence they occur by and large in the rural setting and not the urban setting where I assume your problem with parked cars is(i.e. nobody was ever killed by a parked car).

If you have a problem with Irish people or Irish society then say it... don't just criticise the Gardai for being apart of Irish society. The alternative would be far more distressing.

Soundings

McCrack wrote: »

Soundings the forum you have posted in is Legal Discussion and your opening post and subsequent ones don't actually have any constructive input into legal issues and the development thereof.

What you have posted is a rant and a self-indulged monologue and this is not the forum for doing that. I don't actually know where you might be better off posting your thoughts but all I can say is this forum is not the place for it.

Respond to my legal queries, then, if you've got the wit to do it.

And should you be engaging in "backseat modding"? A little bird tells me you've been cautioned about that before...

Soundings

oceallachain wrote: »

Are the Gardai not supposed to police the Irish people whilst essentially representing the Irish people. Irish people view parking violations as minor so the Gardai will also.

Although I agree pedestrian deaths on our roads, as with all deaths, is a shameful and tragic occurrence they occur by and large in the rural setting and not the urban setting where I assume your problem with parked cars is(i.e. nobody was ever killed by a parked car).

If you have a problem with Irish people or Irish society then say it... don't just criticise the Gardai for being apart of Irish society. The alternative would be far more distressing.

In recent years, around half of all children killed on our roads were pedestrians. Approximately two-thirds of all fatalities were on rural roads, a classification that includes so-called National routes and hence huge cumulative lengths of major roads with a higher speed limit. Almost 60% of injuries were in urban areas, which reflects the lower speed limits there.

It's an ill-informed analysis, if this facile reasoning could be regarded as such at all, to attempt to use these statistics as support for the notion that pedestrians, children, the elderly and the disabled are not being endangered (to say nothing of being seriously inconvenienced) by footpath abusers and by the egregious failure of the law enforcers to enforce the law.

Your asinine comment that "nobody was ever killed by a parked car" has all the intellectual insight of a knock-knock joke. Odd how such bilge doesn't seem to attract any comment from the other scintillating wits hanging around this discussion, too dim or too self-satisfied as they may be to actually engage with the substantive legal and regulatory issues raised.

And as for a few mutually-acquainted Users thanking each other for their 'contributions' to this 'Legal Discussion', well lads, if I was your mammy I'd be wondering whether you're doing more than 'thanking' each other down there in that murky little garden shed...

oceallachain

Soundings wrote: »

In recent years, around half of all children killed on our roads were pedestrians. Approximately two-thirds of all fatalities were on rural roads, a classification that includes so-called National routes and hence huge cumulative lengths of major roads with a higher speed limit. Almost 60% of injuries were in urban areas, which reflects the lower speed limits there.

In relation to this comment we appear to be in acquisce.

It's an ill-informed analysis, if this facile reasoning could be regarded as such at all, to attempt to use these statistics as support for the notion that pedestrians, children, the elderly and the disabled are not being endangered (to say nothing of being seriously inconvenienced) by footpath abusers and by the egregious failure of the law enforcers to enforce the law.

Massive difference between being endangered and being inconvenienced. At the end of the day motorists are being forced to aprk on footpaths so to allow two way traffic flow on our roads due to the narrowness of same.

Your asinine comment that "nobody was ever killed by a parked car" has all the intellectual insight of a knock-knock joke. Odd how such bilge doesn't seem to attract any comment from the other scintillating wits hanging around this discussion, too dim or too self-satisfied as they may be to actually engage with the substantive legal and regulatory issues raised.

Its no joke. I'd be shocked if there has ever been an issue with a parked car endangering pedestrians. Of course it inconveniences them but for the greater good in my opinion and the opinion of the masses.

And as for a few mutually-acquainted Users thanking each other for their 'contributions' to this 'Legal Discussion', well lads, if I was your mammy I'd be wondering whether you're doing more than 'thanking' each other down there in that murky little garden shed...

That's just sad.

Turner

Soundings try posting on indymedia.ie

You might get a better response there.

You could even post pictures and identify Gardai who have failed to act on your most important road traffic complaints :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

McCrack

Soundings wrote: »

Respond to my legal queries, then, if you've got the wit to do it.

And should you be engaging in "backseat modding"? A little bird tells me you've been cautioned about that before...

Any legal questions you have asked have been answered.

Respond to post 2 and re-read post 13.

Soundings

To summarise: Irish motorists view the widespread illegal obstruction of footpaths as a minor parking violation of no consequence, as do the Garda Siochana who constantly have important and urgent things to do with their time (things so important that they can always with complete justification park their own official and personal vehicles wherever they like in the process). Objecting to the obstruction of footpaths by motorists is the most trivial complaint and biggest waste of anybody’s time ever. Pedestrians have no rights, because the word "pedestrian" doesn't appear in the Irish Constitution. Though the word "motorist" isn't in Bunreacht na hEireann either, every right-thinking Irish person knows that Ireland's roads belong to car-drivers. So do the footpaths, for that matter, and motorists have an absolute right to determine that this is so. Of course obstructing the footpath may occasionally be a minor inconvenience for pedestrians -- including children, the disabled and the elderly -- but this is for the greater good, which is the convenience of Irish motorists and a freer flow of traffic. There is no greater purpose than this, regardless of what any foreigners might think, including those do-gooders in the United Nations. Despite constant, pressing and significant problems of gangland crime and other flagrant abuses of the criminal justice system throughout the whole country, Ireland is still a great little nation where Irish laws are applied according to Irish ways. The Garda Siochana is a fine, upstanding and utterly professional police force, unsurpassed anywhere in the developed world (or the undeveloped world for that matter), a solid bastion against those isolated but dangerous anarchist foot-sloggers seeking to subvert the status quo. Anyone who disagrees with this wise consensus is a ranting, raving, time-wasting, complaining busybody who ought to get out more, ideally in a car.

Tom Young

I wasn't liking some of the swipes in the above posts, please play nicely.

Soundings:

Couple of issues:-

1. Local by-laws where traffic wardens are employed may relieve the Gardai of the need to fine, ticket, prosecute such matters;

2. Uses of perceived pavements may not be public in all cases. Sometimes a pathway may not in-fact be owned by the state etc. Thus a landowner parks over it and does so with a property right or right to use;

3. Easements and covenants in relation to uses of land.

Finally, a District Court Judge in Bray, Judge Connellan recently refused to prosecute a lady who had been ticketed by local parking wardens and Gardai in Greystones. This was for parking her car over double-yellow lines and over a badly level pavement. He found that the residents and residence had been in place in advance of the lines and indeed the residence had been there for 200 years and was facing onto a junction which was certified as lethal be engineers. The Judge refused to fine or convict on the tickets and also stated he would not do so going forward.

So while you seem to be making a very valid point, sometimes the Gardai just don't pursue certain offences. It can be discretionary and indeed it can be a case that for some reason the offence is hard to prosecute or the necessary proofs will never be met by the force etc.

Tom

Soundings

All the above legal cavils posted by Tom Young are utterly irrelevant in the context of the generality of parking on public roads, except #1.

Traffic Wardens and Gardai have a statutory duty and appropriate powers to enforce the regulations. Unfortunately, both authorities are failing in their duty to protect pedestrians in general as well as particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly and disabled. Furthermore, they are sometimes mutually complicit in this failure.

Gardai don't care about the obstruction of footpaths, and use their discretionary powers to avoid acting in the interests of pedestrians almost without exception.

Traffic Wardens mainly act in the interests of revenue collection, especially now that Local Authorities are practically bankrupt.

They also protect certain people from penalties, as may be required by the offenders' status or for the benefit of business interests. It is routine for Traffic Wardens to turn a blind eye to blatant offending when the offender is a Garda. This occurs regularly in certain places, eg in the vicinity of courthouses, Garda stations, local bank branches, fast food joints and Spar shops etc. While Gardai may actually be on duty in such circumstances (ie still on shift) the usual reason for the careless parking is not pressing Garda business but officers’ simple desire not to have to walk very far. It would be churlish to blame them for that, of course; as we have seen, when you become a pedestrian you forfeit all your rights. Best to keep the foot-slogging to a minimum.

With regard to Garda behaviour on the roads, this is what the Garda Inspectorate has to say in their 2008 report Roads Policing: Review and Recommendations:

"...officers operating Garda vehicles must provide a positive example for other road users and management should develop policies to ensure that such is the case. In non-emergency situations, police officers should fully comply with the rules of the road in the operation of vehicles, observing speed limits, traffic signals and refraining from the use of mobile phones while driving."

While parking of vehicles was not mentioned specifically in the report, the Inspectorate has stated that "Gardaí should also provide a positive example for other road users when parking vehicles in non-emergency situations."

“A positive example”. Well, fancy that. Of course, the Garda Inspectorate team is just another irritating bunch of foreigners. They've spent far too much time abroad picking up foreign notions about "police excellence", whatever that is, and they don't really understand Irish laws and Irish ways. But jazes we'll knock sense into them, wha? There'll be crack yet...

Soundings

"...we appear to be in acquisce" [Sic; oceallachain, post #17].

Oh dear. An obscure legal term, not just misapplied but misspelled for good measure, when the plain English phrase "in agreement" would suffice.

Alexander Pope was right.

cushtac

Go and complain to GSOC if you're that upset about the Gardaí, although I wonder how they'd take a complaint against every single member of the force...

dvpower

Soundings wrote: »

Footpath parking is rife in Ireland, and a very large number of motorists seem to think that it is of no consequence at all to park wholly or partly on a footpath. This despite the fact that it is illegal under the 1997 Traffic & Parking Regulations and is clearly identified as a no-no in the Rules of the Road (page 116). Taking of disabled people's parking bays is also rampant.

Of course, the key to tackling this illegal, dangerous, selfish, ignorant, anti-social and abusive behaviour is rigorous enforcement.

I sometimes park (partially) on the footpath when I feel parking on the road might cause more of an obstruction. I do it out of consideration, not selfishness. I never knew it was illegal; I don't think I'm going to stop.

I wouldn't park in a disabled spot; although I do think there are far too many of them. I sometimes park in those Parents with Children spots at supermarkets. That's hardly illegal, is it?

PorkScratching

cushtac wrote: »

Go and complain to GSOC if you're that upset about the Gardaí, although I wonder how they'd take a complaint against every single member of the force...

A while ago the GSOC said they were under-staffed and under-resourced. Maybe theyre just overwhelmed, especially with people like Sounding complaining all the time.

Maybe there's a need for a Reserve GSOC? And an OC for the Garda Reserve (GROC)?

Maybe this is a subject for another thread, but who are the Garda Reserve and are they making a difference?

Are they just Garda groupies? Or do they just like people in unform, especially themselves? Or are they garda wannabees that failed to meet the AGS physical and academic requirements for entry?

Hooch

PorkScratching wrote: »

A while ago the GSOC said they were under-staffed and under-resourced. Maybe theyre just overwhelmed, especially with people like Sounding complaining all the time.

Maybe there's a need for a Reserve GSOC? And an OC for the Garda Reserve (GROC)?

Maybe this is a subject for another thread, but who are the Garda Reserve and are they making a difference?

Are they just Garda groupies? Or do they just like people in unform, especially themselves? Or are they garda wannabees that failed to meet the AGS physical and academic requirements for entry?

1. Your post has nothing to do with the thread.

2. A reserve GSOC?? and then when thats ''overwhelmed'' as you put it they can bring in a reserve reserve GSOC!!

3. Reserves are dealtwith by GSOC....students are not.

4. Reserves pass pretty much the same entrance course full members do.

Monkeybonkers

Are Gardai obliged in any way, whether by legislation or a code of discipline, to enforce the law, especially when requested to do so by a citizen?


Don't think this question was actually answered. Anyone got an answer?

cushtac

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

Are Gardai obliged in any way, whether by legislation or a code of discipline, to enforce the law, especially when requested to do so by a citizen?

Gardaí are only obliged to arrest when a court order is in existence, such as a barring order or bench warrant. In all other instances there is discretion, and no one but a judge can order a Garda to arrest someone.

Trojan911

Error. Question answered.

Trojan911

Soundings wrote: »

Footpath parking is rife in Ireland, and a very large number of motorists seem to think that it is of no consequence at all to park wholly or partly on a footpath. This despite the fact that it is illegal under the 1997 Traffic & Parking Regulations and is clearly identified as a no-no in the Rules of the Road (page 116). Taking of disabled people's parking bays is also rampant.

Yep, totally selfish, dangerous, inconsiderate & backward.

You have my sympathies.... Having lived in the UK myself, like you, I understand where you are coming from... Welcome back....

Monkeybonkers

cushtac wrote: »

Gardaí are only obliged to arrest when a court order is in existence, such as a barring order or bench warrant. In all other instances there is discretion, and no one but a judge can order a Garda to arrest someone.

Thanks