"Nemo tenetur armare adversarium contra se" … No one is bound to arm his adversary against himself … It happens to us all, one time or another. One day you are travelling along on your way to somewhere, minding your own business, not a care in the world. Perhaps you are concentrating on the road ahead, the music on the radio, the landscape in the distance, or something more distant in back of your mind. Then you slow down to a grinding crawl, as you notice the People passing on the other side of the road flashing their lights, and the People in front of you are also beginning to slow down. It occurs to you that, 'perhaps there is an accident on the road ahead?' As you crawl along, and you see more into the immediate distance, you can notice blue flashing lights. As you draw nearer the scene ahead, you cannot see any broken glass, burnt rubber, oil streaks, twisted-metal, spatters of blood or entangled bodies. You think, 'perhaps it's the aftermath of a crash being cleared up?' Finally you are upon the scene; relieved that it is not a crash, and that nobody is maimed, injured or killed. It's just members of An Garda Siochana blocking the road, shaking People down for money … again! Definition of a Psychopath: "In the early 1800s, doctors who worked with mental patients began to notice that some of their patients who appeared outwardly normal had what they termed a "moral depravity" or "moral insanity," in that they seemed to possess no sense ofethicsor of the rights of other people. The term "psychopath" was first applied to these people around 1900. The term was changed to "sociopath" in the 1930s to emphasize the damage they do to society. Currently researchers have returned to using the term 'psychopath'." - William Hirstein, Ph.D. Now, we are NOT saying that An Garda Siochana (the keepers of the peace) are psychopaths, but the analogy seems fitting in the context of this story. It's worth pointing out at this juncture that "An Garda Siochana", have what is called, the "Garda Oath of Office". The Garda Oath is supposed to be their underlying principle of operation, or modus operandi, under which they are supposed to operate and keep the peace. What or whose peace, are An Garda Siochana supposed to be keeping? Well, most People on this Island are of the mind and opinion that An Garda Siochana should be ("are") keeping the peace for the People of this Island. In my own humble experiences and opinion that has been forming since the tender age of eight (8) nothing could be further from the truth. GARDA – OATH OF OFFICE "I hereby solemnly and sincerely declare before God that I will faithfully discharge the duties of a member of the Garda Síochána with fairness, integrity, regard for human rights, diligence and impartiality, upholding the Constitution and the "LAWS" and according equal respect to all people, while I continue to be a member, I will to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all my duties according to law, and I do not belong to, and will not while I remain a member form, belong to or subscribe to, any political party or secret society whatsoever." Section 16 – Garda Siochana Act 2005. It's circumstantially unfortunate for me, that many of my own internal opinions about An Garda Siochana have been formed from such a very early age, having been exposed to An Garda Siochana violence from about the age of eight (8). One morning my Mother was just in the middle of preparing us, me and my sister, for School, when An Garda Siochana pulled up outside our home. It was me that first noticed the squad car outside. Looking out the kitchen window, the Garda were assisting my Father getting out of the back of the squad car. When he was out, they took off the cuffs from behind his back. His stature was greatly diminished. He was all hunched up, and for an instant he was unrecognisable. As he looked sheepishly through the kitchen window, he noticed me staring out. He looked away to hide his shame. The rest of that day was very blurry and hazy for me, as the state of my father and his physical demeanour started and ended my day. As the story goes, from the bits overheard by me at the time; my father had been picked up for "alleged drunk driving, resisted arrest, and was taken to Castlebar Garda station". He spent the night in the cells, and was taken home the next morning, after having his two arms dislocated from their sockets, and been beaten to a pulp by An Garda Siochana. From the very little visual contact I had with my father that day, there is still this indelible image of his face being black and swollen with bruises, and his neck as red as a beetroot, and purple as a parsnip. That was the image that was in me as a child going to school that day, and has stayed with me ever since. For the record, no drunken driving charges were prosecuted against him at that time and occasion. Now my father was not exactly what you might call a saint, well certainly not as far as An Garda Siochana were concerned, although at that time some of the Garda stationed at Castlebar were amongst some of his best drinking buddies, and some very obviously were not. Irrespective of his relationship with An Garda Siochana, and the fact that my father seldom toed the line of their rules and regulations, it still does not give them an excuse to physically torture and beat any Man or Woman to a pulp, that which they most certainly did, and did consistently to lots of People, over long and extended periods of time other than to my own father. Some years later, two of my cousins living in the next village over, suffered the very same fate with An Garda Siochana. They were both, on separate occasions, taken in by An Garda Siochana, and beaten to within an inch of their lives, without ever being charged with anything. No doubt, some will say that my father and my cousins probably deserved what they got. In the west in those days (the 1970's), An Garda Siochana ruled the roost, and ruled it with iron fists wrapped in wet towels, so as to reduce the marking. By all accounts very little has changed in the west. They say, that all the "bad Garda" get posted to the west; from my own experiences and childhood and young adult memories, that is not difficult to comprehend. Experiences like this and others marred my childhood and young adulthood. It has left me with a distrust of An Garda Siochana and all perceived authority. Don't get me wrong. This statement and book isn't about trying to label, stereotype or castigate An Garda Siochana. There may well be plenty of Men and Women who have joined An Garda Siochana for the ideals they espouse within their "Oath of Office", but from an outside perspective this is not obvious. When you scratch below the surface of An Garda Siochana it's difficult to reconcile where exactly members of An Garda Siochana are aligned with their "Oath of Office". This point may seem a little obtuse to some, but the simple thing is: If all Garda Siochana stuck rigidly to their "Oath of Office", to "discharge their duties … with fairness, integrity, regard for human rights, diligence and impartiality", perhaps there would have been no need for my father and cousins to have been beaten to a pulp, there would have been no need for me to have spent a night in Cloverhill prison, and there would have been no need for this book to be written. Extract with the kind permission of the author ... ~~~ This book is available in print copy from: www.GaryDoyle.eventbrite.com/ ~~~ |
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