Gardai get free booze?

Chiparus

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/shell-pipeline-protests-county-mayo

Have to say this while it may be normal to get a gift of an odd bottle for Christmas, €35000 of Northern Irish booze seems a bit OTT.

goldie fish

"Allegations were made to the district officer at Belmullet that alcohol was distributed to members of An Garda Síochána on behalf of Shell E&P. Inquiries conducted in relation to these allegations found no evidence of alcohol being distributed to members of An Garda Síochána by, or on behalf of, Shell E&P."

That's where the story ends, in my opinion. The rest is conspiracy theory nonsense, the type that is typical of the Guardian.

Knob Longman

Well written article, And it's good to see a foreign newspaper taking interest into corruption here, Most of our own media turn a blind eye.

I'd hope it's not true, €35000 is a lot of booze. The problem with the article is the info comes from somebody with a grievance against Shell regarding money supposedly owed.

Shakti

Lets face it if your going to rape irish citizens of their own natural resources your going to have to bribe the cops, who could have known they would be so cheap although seeing the country just gave our gas away for free I can see why shell treats the country as a whole as a bunch of gullible half wits.

goldie fish

Uh Oh. The crustie conspiracy theory crowd have arrived.

Corkbah

goldie fish wrote: »

Uh Oh. The crustie conspiracy theory crowd have arrived.

C'mon now ... thats not fair .... both sides of this argument seem to be using tactics.

its possible and not implausible that the Gardai were in receipt of "gifts" indirectly from Shell - its not unheard of in recent years for elements of the force to be corrupt - many of the members may not have even known where the alleged free booze came from, plenty of emergency service workers receive gifts around christmas time - usually from people whose lives they saved throughout the year, not all of these gifts have a thank you label on them and are simply dropped into the station..... how many politicians drop a box or two into local garda stations - at taxpayers expense.

in previous years around christmas time I've given gifts to emergency service personnel who assisted me during the year - there was no malice of hidden meaning ...it was simply a thank you from one person to another, it could have been seen as a bribe if someone wanted to twist it and make claims/accusations.

the only people who can say if this is true are the disgruntled former link between the two companies (Shell and the Gardai) .... so any allegations could be taken with the pinch of salt they are given .... the guardian says it contacted the gardai with the allegations and they didn't accept or deny it ...so because they didn't deny it the guardian accept it as true - the way in which its phrased is basically unless you respond we're going to assume its true - lets the guardian open to legal action if there is no basis behind it.

I'm inclined to agree with the article - but from my interactions during the jailing of the Rossport 5 and various Shell-to-Sea protests over the years - both sides of the argument are capable of twisting the truth.

Shakti

goldie fish wrote: »

Uh Oh. The crustie conspiracy theory crowd have arrived.

what's your problem?

Corkbah

Corkbah wrote: »

the only people who can say if this is true are the disgruntled former link between the two companies (Shell and the Gardai) .... so any allegations could be taken with the pinch of salt they are given .... the guardian says it contacted the gardai with the allegations and they didn't accept or deny it ...so because they didn't deny it the guardian accept it as true - the way in which its phrased is basically unless you respond we're going to assume its true - lets the guardian open to legal action if there is no basis behind it.

I agree with you on that. I think they've jumped to the conclusion because of the language used by the Press Office.

Zambia

What's the Problem ....

For years the Gardai have been given the odd bottle for booze at Christmas by the local shopkeep.

Now if you are using that many Garda, a case of heineken and two bottles of Rose is not going to cut it.

Every christmas in Ireland I gave my binman a tenner ... sorry I added to the moral bankruptcy of the state.

If you gave one member of state 35,000 to have the Garda intervene thats a story.

500 Garda getting 70 euro of Booze each is no story.

Shakti

Shakti wrote: »

Lets face it if your going to huperbolehyperbolehyperbolehyperbole

Fixed your post.

Do remember the time of year it is folks.

Chiparus

Zambia wrote: »

What's the Problem ....

For years the Gardai have been given the odd bottle for booze at Christmas by the local shopkeep.

Now if you are using that many Garda, a case of heineken and two bottles of Rose is not going to cut it.

Every christmas in Ireland I gave my binman a tenner ... sorry I added to the moral bankruptcy of the state.

If you gave one member of state 35,000 to have the Garda intervene thats a story.

500 Garda getting 70 euro of Booze each is no story.

Were there 500 gardai up there at Christmas 2007?

If there were only 50 , its 700 euro ( bought in the North so worth €1000 euro in the South).

Shakti

Deleted User wrote: »

Fixed your post.

Do remember the time of year it is folks.

Considering the unapologetic brazen attitude towards corruption demonstrated by you and people like you it is hardly surprising it is so common place and accepted,

goldie fish

Back to AH with you.

Shakti

don't worry fish I'm sure it will all blow over,

Potential-Monke

I stopped at this part:

"The struggle has become an epic clash between the Goliath that is Shell, backed by the Irish police, "

Backed by Irish police... When will people realise it's the job of the Gardaí to prevent breaches of the peace, which is what they were doing. Just because you don't like something happening, doesn't give you the right to interfere in an illegal manner. Let's blame all the Gardaí who were directed there with strict "orders" if you must. God forbid they do their job as directed by their superiors.

But, let those who think that the protesters were right in doing what they did counter-argue, it's an old fight which i care not about any more.

angelfire9

Maura Harrington is quoted in the journal as saying the supply of booze caused the drink fueled abuse of locals by the Gardai in Mayo
:D:D:D:D

goldie fish

She'd know all about drink fuelled abuse.....

pa990

I hope exxon get going in Cork in time for Xmas