From top: Protests in Sligo on Monday night; outside the Mansion House on Saturday; and Tom Clonan 

Dramatically-haired security analyst Tom Clonan went on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sean O’Rourke presented by Keelin Shanley this morning to discuss the Irish Water protests with an emphasis on the conduct of some of the protesters and the response by the Gardai.

Keelin Shanley: “You’re very welcome back to the programme. Now over the last few days anti-water protests have turned from peaceful demonstrations into much more tense, violent, even dangerous encounters between politicians, protestors and Gardai. I’m joined now by security analyst Tom Clonan. Tom, thank you for coming into us this morning. You are, you’ve a background in this area, you’ve done training in this area, you’ve been analysing hours of footage on YouTube as to what has been happening. What is your take on how it has been managed so far?”

Tom Clonan: “Well, just so the listeners know, as an army officer, as a captain in the defence forces prior to the ceasefires, we provided aid to the civil powers, of support to An Garda Siochana. So we did what we called riot control or public order training exactly the same as An Garda Siochana, because when we were in the same place, whether it be a prison riot, like say in Portlaoise for example, or whether we were supporting the guards in extradition cases, which were very, very nasty, very confrontational, we had exactly the same reference points as our colleagues in An Gardai with regard to the use of force, justification and minimum force. So I‘ve been watching the water protests with great interest and particularly after the event at the weekend, where I have to say Ministers of Cabinet have been using language which is very, very inappropriate, they have been using hyperbole to describe what have been relatively minor although unacceptable incidents but they need to be clear…”

Shanley: “What do you mean, Tom?”

Clonan: “I saw the footage, what had happened to Minister Burton and I saw the pictures of, you know, water balloons hitting her head, and, you know that’s absolutely unacceptable, Paul Murphy and others who are involved in those protests, they need to make sure they are properly stewarded and conducted responsibly, and in fairness to Minister Burton…”

Shanley: “Paul Murphy would say he didn’t…”

Clonan: “I understand that, but he was there with a megaphone. Please use it. But anyway, but the government response has been, you know, one of a confrontational, adversarial use of language, they constantly use the term ‘sinister elements’ to refer to protestors who are out on the streets. There were 150,000 out on the streets, we’ll probably have similar numbers, in fact we’ll probably have more than that on the 10th December, when I heard Brendan Howlin say this morning that we could be proud of Irish Water, they’re really missing the point there, you know, people are angry…”

Shanley: “But it remains to be seen, Tom, we haven’t heard the full proposals yet..”

Clonan: “They may try to arrange the deckchairs on the deck of the Titanic but people aren’t, the government are correct when they say people aren’t necessarily protesting against water, but the installation of water meters gives people the opportunity to protest…”

Shanley: “Let’s get back to the security. If you talk about a violent confrontation or if you find yourself in a position where there is, you know, public disorder or unrest or riot or whatever you going to call it, what are the basic requirements, the legal requirements, what are you going to do?”Continue reading →