About 100 people demonstrated outside Leinster House today in protest at the comments of gardaí about rape after the arrest of two women involved in a protest at the Corrib gas project in Co Mayo.
A number of women's organisations expressed huge concern that the comments by gardaí would be a major setback for the reporting of sexual crime.
Chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre Ellen O'Malley Dunlop said that "in the last number of years because of the hard work we've been doing, with the gardaí, the reporting of rape has gone up. But this kind of behaviour of the gardaí will put people off reporting. And there are really good gardaí." About one in 10 women who are raped report the crime, but just 7 per cent of the reported cases go to court.
"This is a real setback," she said. But the Rape Crisis Centre wants to encourage the gardaí with their policy to "have specialised police who will be dealing with rape in their own district so it's not just a garda on the beat".
Ms O'Malley Dunlop said: "These type of comments are totally unacceptable. Rape is the second most serious crime on our statute books, and it is important that the attitude that you can rape a woman, or speak about raping a woman is okay, is once and for all challenged, that it's not okay, to even talk about raping a man or a woman."
Asked about the Garda Commissioner's response after gardaí were recorded making derogatory comments about the two women, Ms O'Malley Dunlop said "I think that the commissioner is dealing with it in the only way he can, and we welcome that."
The National Women's Council also welcomed the commissioner's apology and "his other actions in relation to this incident", and that the Garda Ombudsman Commission is investigating the incident. In a statement the council's chief executive, Susan McKay, said: "All women who come into contact with the Garda must be treated with respect. The Commissioner must immediately fund training to ensure that all gardaí are fully aware of the gravity of sexual violence. All gardaí must be warned that behaviour such as that displayed in Mayo will not be tolerated in the force."
She said that cuts had been made in funding for ongoing Garda training and education, and these should be reversed to educate gardaí "to have decent attitudes".
Ms McKay said: "Jokes about rape are never funny. Rape is recognised in law as being second only to murder in terms of gravity. An Garda Síochána are responsible for upholding the law and for protecting the public. Their behaviour must be exemplary, and they must respect the people they serve. That includes women. We are half the population, and we are the majority of the population at risk when it comes to crimes of sexual violence."
Grainne Griffin of the Dublin Shell to Sea campaign sharply criticised the behaviour of gardaí towards protesters at the Ballinaboy Shell site in north Mayo. "Violence and the threat of violence have long been used in Erris to try and suppress protest," she said. Ms Griffin claimed gardaí were at the site "essentially as soldiers, as private mercenaries for a private company, paid for by us and they claim to represent us".
The rape comments by gardaí and the protests have been raised in the Dáil where it emerged this week that policing of the protests has cost more than €14 million in Garda overtime and allowances. Some 111 complaints alleging Garda misconduct have been made by protesters but, none have been upheld.
