More than one garda a day injured in assaults in 2024 despite rise in sentence
A total of 372 officers sustained injuries in assaults during 2024, while another 128 were injured on duty as a result of being attacked during the first six months of this year.
The pattern of aggression has continued despite the introduction of new legislation in November 2023, which increased the maximum sentence for assaulting or threatening gardaí from seven to 12 years.
Some 1,307 gardaí have sustained injuries as a result of being assaulted during the past three-and-a-half years, according to data published by Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Padraig O'Sullivan.
Numbers spiked to a record 470 in 2023 from 337 during the previous year, before falling by 20% to 372 last year. A further 128 assaults causing injury had been reported up to June 26 this year.
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'We are all immensely grateful to our gardaí for their outstanding dedication and commitment to serving the public and for the important role that they play in our society,' said Mr O'Callaghan.
'For the most part, the relationship between gardaí and the public is one built on very significant trust. An Garda Síochána is a largely unarmed, and yet hugely effective, policing service.
'An assault on a member of An Garda Síochána, a prison officer, a member of the fire brigade, ambulance personnel, or a member of the Defence Forces is an offence under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.'
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Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘People who assault gardaí can expect prison. It's as simple as that': Judge to man who spat in garda's eye
Jordan Mallon (26), of Donomore Crescent, Tallaght, appeared before Judge William Aylmer at Tallaght District Court facing five charges arising from a series of offences on October 14, 2024. He pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda James Cullen, violent behaviour in a garda station, criminal damage to a bus stop and two public order charges relating to intoxication and threatening behaviour. The court heard that gardaí were called to Castletymon Road in Tallaght after Mallon was seen kicking and smashing a bus stop shelter. He was intoxicated and acting aggressively. Gardaí arrested him and conveyed him to Tallaght Garda Station. There, while in custody, Garda Cullen stood beside the accused when Mallon suddenly turned his head and spat directly into the garda's face and eye. Garda Cullen was brought to Tallaght University Hospital and a garda doctor was contacted to assess the risk of exposure. While the saliva contained no blood and the risk was deemed low, the court heard that the incident was highly distressing. Garda Cullen returned to duty after receiving medical attention, the court was told. The court heard Mallon was 'extremely aggressive' throughout the incident and that assistance was required to restrain him. He has 38 previous convictions, including multiple offences under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, with his most recent convictions recorded in March and June 2025. Defence solicitor Michael Hennessy said his client had already personally apologised to Garda Cullen and was 'shocked by his own behaviour' after viewing CCTV footage of himself. 'He regrets the incident profoundly,' Mr Hennessy said. 'It was disgraceful, and he's thankful the garda did not suffer lasting harm." Counsel submitted that Mallon failed to process the grief of his father's death in a mature way and fell into alcohol misuse. "He's now 26, and since March this year, he's been sober, attending AA, and is due to start a job on Monday," counsel said. Judge Aylmer, however, asked: 'How can an apology ring true at all, when it comes after this man's record of persistent offending?' 'This was a garda simply doing his job,' he added. 'To be spat in the face and eye is utterly unacceptable. Fortunately, no lasting harm occurred, but this court must mark the seriousness of the offence. People who assault gardaí can expect prison. It's as simple as that.' Judge Aylmer convicted Mallon under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, imposing a nine-month sentence, reduced to eight months to reflect the early guilty plea. He suspended four months for 12 months on condition that Mallon engage fully with the Probation Service, participate in a Restorative Justice programme and address alcohol misuse, violent and criminal damage behaviours. The court requested a final exit report. 'If he does not cooperate fully,' Judge Aylmer warned, 'he will serve the remaining sentence.' Mallon was also ordered to enter a €300 peace bond. The custodial sentence related specifically to the assault on Garda Cullen, with all other offences taken into account.
Sunday World
8 hours ago
- Sunday World
Gardai say Volkswagen with screwdriver for a gearstick had more ‘DIY than B&Q'
They added that this was 'dangerous, illegal, and not even slightly roadworthy' alongside the hashtag, 'you can't make this up' The car that was pulled over by gardai Gardai in Laois/Offaly who stopped a car being driven without insurance yesterday had thought they'd 'seen it all'. However, on closer inspection they realised the gear stick was replaced with a screwdriver. 'This Volkswagen had more DIY than B&Q,' they posted on Facebook. 'The vehicle was seized.' They added that this was 'dangerous, illegal, and not even slightly roadworthy' alongside the hashtag, 'you can't make this up'. The car that was pulled over by gardai Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 5th One person commenting said that as a 'mechanic and certified vehicle inspector, if the screwdriver handle was fitted correctly it's not a problem', before quickly adding: 'The insurance or lack thereof is a big problem though.' This is just the latest bizarre discovery gardai have made on the roads recently. Only last month, Mayo Road Policing Unit who stopped a suspicious vehicle discovered a raft of issues. Not only was the rear tyre in an extremely poor condition, they found that the back left brake had been cut off where a vice grips had been clamped to the brake line. Tax had also expired on the vehicle that was seized for further technical examination. In March gardaí seized a dangerously defective car after spotting a forged NCT certificate created by a "budding artist". The driver of the 2005 Volkswagen Beetle had attempted to pass off the car as having a valid three-year NCT by poorly altering the expired 2023 disc to 2025 in a bid to avoid detection. However, during the roadside inspection in Gorey eagle-eyed gardaí quickly spotted the fake NCT cert. On closer inspection, they realised why the car hadn't passed its test. Gardaí found "extensive corrosion" on the body of the car, with a photo of the underside of car showing badly corroded sills. In a post on social media shared by An Garda Síochána, officers joked that the driver was a "budding artist", but warned that forgery is no laughing matter. "This budding artist decided to tamper with an NCT certificate, causing Gardaí to seize the car on the discovery the NCT expired in 2023. "Upon inspection at the roadside in Gorey earlier this month, it became clear the driver had altered the expiration date on the disc in an attempt to deceive. Unfortunately for them, the reason the '05 VW Beetle didn't hold a valid NCT was soon obvious — extensive corrosion was found on the body of the car," gardaí added. "Forging or altering official documents is a criminal offence and can lead to prosecution. Driving a dangerously defective vehicle puts lives at risk — including your own, your passengers, and other road users." The car was seized on the spot with the driver facing court proceedings.
Irish Times
16 hours ago
- Irish Times
Elizabeth Plunkett: How murdered woman's family discovered they were not ‘relevant victims' in serial killer case
When something false is repeated often enough, it has a tendency to become accepted fact. At some point a seed of incorrect information takes root in the public discourse before spreading through newspaper articles, books and political statements. Eventually, the actual truth becomes almost impossible to discern. It is a phenomenon known to researchers as the illusory truth effect. The family of Elizabeth Plunkett came face to face with this effect in 2023 after getting a call from the Parole Board. Elizabeth was a 23-year-old woman from Ringsend in Dublin who, in 1976, was kidnapped and murdered by two English men. The killers, John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, had come to Ireland with the aim of murdering one woman every week. A month after Elizabeth's death, they murdered another young woman, Mary Duffy, from Co Galway , before being caught by gardaí and confessing to their crimes. READ MORE Shaw and Evans became known as Ireland's first serial killers. Both received life sentences and Evans died in custody in 2012 at the age of 72. Shaw (78) remains in Arbour Hill Prison. He is Ireland's longest-serving prisoner. He sought to change that in 2023 by applying for parole, having already been granted release for two days a year. Under a new parole act passed in 2019, the Plunkett family had an automatic right to express their views on Shaw's parole bid. Elizabeth Plunkett was 23 when she was murdered by John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans in 1976 When the family were contacted by the Parole Board, it was decided two of Elizabeth's sisters, Bernadette Barry and Kathleen Nolan, would speak for all of the siblings. They spent hours drafting their submissions, explaining the ongoing trauma of Elizabeth's murder and the effect it had on their parents who both died a few years afterwards. Shaw should not be released under any circumstances, they said. 'I poured my heart and soul into that,' said Kathleen this week. 'It was like slicing me open, with the trauma of remembering.' They repeated the process later in person during a meeting with two members of the Parole Board who would decide Shaw's future. 'We got emotional, we got angry – it was gruelling,' recalled Bernadette. Afterwards, the family put the matter to the back of their minds and prepared for the wedding of Kathleen's daughter that summer. That August, the sisters got a call from the solicitors representing them in the parole process and were asked to come into the office on a Saturday morning. Their solicitor, James McGuill, informed them that the Parole Board had made a serious mistake. It had been discovered the Plunkett family were not 'relevant victims' and therefore had no right to take part in Shaw's parole process. This was because Shaw had in fact never been convicted of Elizabeth's murder. Bernadette and Kathleen could not believe what they were hearing. For decades, newspaper articles and books had repeated the same 'fact': that John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans – 'Ireland's first serial killers' – were serving life for the murders of Elizabeth Plunkett and Mary Duffy. Elizabeth Plunkett: In 1979 the DPP dropped the charges against John Shaw relating to the Ringsend woman's rape and murder. To date, nothing has emerged to explain this decision More than that, various State agencies were under the same impression. Over the years, every time Shaw or Evans was moved out of the prison, for example for hospital appointments, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) contacted the Plunkett family 'as relevant victims' to let them know. Similarly, the Parole Board had contacted the family in the belief that Shaw had been convicted of Elizabeth's murder, only to realise belatedly its mistake. 'There's retired judges on the Parole Board,' said Kathleen. 'The highest echelons of Irish society get these jobs on these boards. They're highly educated people, and yet no one checked this out.' How did this illusory truth take hold? A look through the archives provides a few clues. Shaw and Evans confessed to raping and murdering both women shortly after their capture. However, the prosecution was a convoluted affair. First, a judge granted a defence application that the men be tried separately, as each one was blaming the other for the murders. For reasons that remain unclear, the judge also ordered the men be given separate trials for each of the murdered women, meaning a total of four trials. The hearing began in July 1977, when Shaw went on trial for Mary Duffy's rape and murder. To the surprise of many onlookers the jury became deadlocked on a verdict. He was retried and subsequently convicted. [ The late summer murders: Two men on a mission to kill Irish women Opens in new window ] The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) then successfully appealed the original judgment mandating separate trials, meaning they could try Evans for both of the murders at the same time. Following the trial, he was convicted of Mary Duffy's murder but, for reasons that are also unclear at this remove, the judge ordered the jury to find him not guilty of Elizabeth Plunkett's killing. Both men were sentenced to life for Mary Duffy's murder. Then, in 1979, the DPP dropped the charges against Shaw relating to Elizabeth's rape and murder. To date, nothing has emerged to explain this decision. It is possible the DPP believed Shaw would never be released so there was no point in going through the expense of another trial. Like the rest of Irish society, Bernadette and Elizabeth, who were teenagers at the time, went through their life believing Shaw was in prison for their sister's murder. They explained that during the trials, their father went to great lengths to shield the family from the trauma of the process. 'The way it was in the house, it wasn't discussed. My father would just shut down any conversation about it because it set my Mammy off. It was all about trying to keep us together because we were all ready to just lose the plot,' said Bernadette. 'When you see somebody going to jail and there was a court case, you just automatically live your life thinking, yeah, they were found guilty,' said Kathleen. After being informed about the Parole Board's mistake in August 2023, the sisters decided they would refuse to accept the label of 'not relevant victims'. Their solicitor hired two barristers to examine the case. After searching through the records, the lawyers found that not only had there been no conviction for Elizabeth's murder, no inquest had been held either. It would later emerge that a death certificate had not even been issued for the young woman. It felt like Elizabeth had been erased, the sisters said, and they were determined to address that. The sisters wrote to the Garda, the DPP and the Government but got nowhere. At that point they decided to go public and made contact with the RTÉ Documentary on One team, having been impressed by their investigation into abuse in Blackrock College. 'I said to Kathleen: they're meticulous. They have to be. Because they can't afford to be sued after all the Ryan Tubridy thing,' joked Bernadette. The sisters have nothing but praise for the documentary team, and in particular its producer Liam O'Brien. Last month RTÉ started publishing a six-part podcast on the case called Stolen Sister. Earlier this year, thanks to the sisters' campaign, an inquest was finally held into Elizabeth's death which recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. However, officially, no one has been convicted of her death and the Plunkett family still have no say in Shaw's parole. [ From the archive: State's longest-serving prisoner in fresh bid to secure temporary release Opens in new window ] His last parole bid was rejected. He is expected to apply again early next year. James McGuill, their solicitor, has called on the Garda to reopen the murder investigation with a view to securing a murder conviction against Shaw. The Garda has said its investigation concluded in 1976 and the matter is one for the DPP. The family have received legal advice that, in rare cases, it is possible to reopen a case after charges are dropped. One path being pursued by McGuill and the two sisters is gathering enough new evidence to allow prosecutors to reopen the case. They have had some success to date. After the inquest, and particularly after the start of the RTÉ series, multiple women have come forward to say they believe they were also targeted by Shaw and Evans during the men's 1976 crime spree. [ Eight women come forward with information on being targeted by 1976 killers of Elizabeth Plunkett Opens in new window ] This includes a woman who was knocked down by a car very close to where Elizabeth was abducted in Co Wicklow. These testimonies will be passed on to the Garda and DPP, McGuill said. Looking back, Kathleen says she can understand her father's desire to protect them from the trial and why he 'hid the newspapers behind the sideboard'. 'When anyone would it bring up, he'd say: 'Let Elizabeth Rest in peace', because he couldn't cope,' she said. Nevertheless, they are determined to keep up their campaign for Elizabeth's case to be reopened by authorities. 'They thought these two auld ones would just go away, said Bernadette. 'But no, sorry, not when you're fighting for your family.'
