The “full force of the law” will be brought down on those who threaten gardaí on social media, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference, he said it was “totally unacceptable for online, anonymous cowards to seek to intimidate members of An Garda Síochána, who are defending the public from criminal activity”.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said at the conference that the force is setting up incident rooms in each of the four Garda regions to deal with such threats. Senior investigating officers will be tasked with investigating cases of threatening behaviour towards gardaí.
The response comes in direct reaction to “appalling behaviour” which took place during the fuel protests, he said.
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The force is examining whether any such criminal offences were committed, particularly during the period of the fuel blockades.
“Absolutely appalling” behaviour was dished out to gardaí, as well as fuel tanker drivers, and those transporting Garda members countrywide as targets for abuse and intimidation, he said.
“If there are any criminal offences disclosed, we will certainly be prosecuting them as far as we possibly can,” he said, with gardaí subject to abuse, threats and intimidation encouraged to contact the new incident rooms.
Kelly said the Garda would discuss any potential gaps in legislation with the Department of Justice.
O’Callaghan suggested threats to kill or harm gardaí are already covered by the law.
“When you look [at] what’s happened in the political sphere, you can see that people have been prosecuted and convicted for harassing and intimidating politicians online,” said O’Callaghan.
He said, however, that he would consider the introduction of further legislative measures while responding to whether he would make it illegal to publish personal details of gardaí online.
O’Callaghan suggested that the publicity of convictions for harassing or intimidating members of the force would “send a very strong message out to what is a cowardly small group of people who are online anonymously threatening gardaí”.
Asked about the possibility for perpetrators of so-called “doxxing” to have their mugshots released as a further deterrent measure, O’Callaghan expressed concern that it could block rehabilitation.
Separately, O’Callaghan was pressed on his statements regarding using the military to deal with fuel protesters blockading national infrastructure.
The Minister said he did not regret his comments. “People have a constitutional right to assemble, [but] once you start blocking critical infrastructure, that’s when the line is crossed.”
He added: “It was a real success on the part of the gardaí and it was important that the authority of the State was seen to be effective.”
