Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

In reacting to the arrests last week, arising from the protest in Jobstown, the Taoiseach stated the matter was entirely one for the Garda, which is completely independent of the Government. Will he expand on this view in the light of the arrests over seven days of residents of Tallaght? The Government is not totally separate from the Garda or, for that matter, the Judiciary. It hires and can effectively fire the Garda Commissioner, for example. Would it not be amazing if the Garda were making independent decisions to devote such a high level of resources to dealing with one protest and the water charges generally? Is it not worrying that the Garda has such powers of decision making without any democratic control by elected representatives?

The Anti-Austerity Alliance does not believe there is a paper trail somewhere linking the Government with the current actions being taken by the Garda. That is a highly unlikely scenario. The point of political policing, however, is that the Garda is operating in a political fashion that benefits the Government. For example, the Taoiseach and the Garda Commissioner hold similar views on protests. Last November the Taoiseach stated in the House that protestors in Jobstown had acted "like hounds after a fox," thereby depicting them as wild savages rather than people who were livid following six years of austerity. The Garda Commissioner, Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan, described some of the protests against water charges as unacceptable in "tone and sentiment."

I received a letter from a garda following my contribution last week.

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