Minister for Justice Simon Harris will “strongly criticise Sinn Féin” at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) on Monday, accusing the party of potentially provoking aggression toward individual gardaí with “inaccurate and provocative posts on social media”.
The plan to criticise the party, flagged in a briefing on Sunday evening, comes after Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin shared a montage image on social media depicting gardaí overseeing an eviction during the Famine.
The picture is a reworked painting by the 19th-century Cork artist Daniel MacDonald of an eviction during the Famine. The Dublin Mid-West TD said “No words needed” and credited the visual artist behind it, Mála Spíosraí, also known as Spicebag.
‘Spicebag’, from Bray, told The Irish Times he had completed the image in 2021, having been inspired by an eviction in Dublin’s north inner city in Dublin in 2018, where masked gardaí were visible observing the eviction taking place. He reissued the image in recent days, as the Government’s moratorium on no-fault evictions lapsed on Saturday.
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“It was just to highlight the sort of intensity and cultural weight of an eviction in the Irish psyche,” he said.
[ Artist behind Garda eviction image believes ‘people are missing the point’Opens in new window ]
The image was described as “insultingly wrong” by AGSI general secretary Antoinette Cunningham.
Mr Harris will set out plans to better protect gardaí from assaults and aggression at the conference, including by increasing the maximum sentence for assaults on members of the force and other emergency service workers to 12 years.
As part of Justice Plan 2023, which Mr Harris will publish later this week, he will ask the expert forum on antisocial established under the Department of Justice to review the powers available to the force in relation to public order and antisocial behaviour. In addition, the roll-out of bodycams for gardaí will begin by the end of the year.
Mr Harris will also announce new powers to restrict criminals from thwarting the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) through vexatious court challenges.
Under the plans, courts will be empowered to automatically appoint receivers to property when a “decision has been made that the asset is a proceed of crime”, pending a final order for disposal, a spokesman said.
In recent years, he said, “some criminals continue to enjoy their assets and property for lengthy periods by using delaying tactics to challenge Cab in the courts, sometimes for several years”. It’s understand the measures were prompted in part by John Gilligan’s legal efforts to thwart Cab’s efforts to seize his property portfolio.
The move will be contained in the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2023, which will also include plans to empower the Cab to more effectively share information with other State agencies and with law enforcement in other jurisdictions.
The legislation will also provide anonymity to former non-Garda Cab officers, other former Cab staff, and other non-Cab experts when called to give evidence at proceeds of crime hearings.
