‘The Garda Could, However, Still Face Disciplinary Action’

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The late Dublin-born blogger and journalist with the Dublin Inquirer Dara Quigley

On Saturday, Conor Feehan, in the Herald, reported that the guard suspected of recording video footage of Dara Quigley being arrested and dragged into a Garda car while walking naked in Dublin city centre “will not face prosecution”.

Dara, who was battling mental health issues, took her own life within days of the video being shared on Facebook by a separate person.

An investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) into the incident is ongoing.

Mr Feehan reported:

“The matter was referred to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) and an investigation into the conduct of the garda began.

“It is believed the garda at the centre of the investigation was suspended at the time of the incident.

“A spokesperson for the GSOC said the investigation was still ongoing. However, the Herald has learned from other sources that the garda who is suspected of recording the footage is not to face criminal prosecution.

“The garda could, however, still face disciplinary action when the GSOC investigation is completed.

“It is understood that when the investigation was first launched, the possible criminal aspect of it was looked at first, and the decision was made by the Director of Public Prosecutions that there would be no criminal charge stemming from the incident.”

Garda who filmed tragic blogger Dara to avoid prosecution (Conor Feehan, The Herald)

Meanwhile…

Sam Tranum, of Dublin Inquirer – where Dara worked – has contacted An Garda Síochána, GSOC, the Department of Justice, the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson TD Jim O’Callaghan and Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire to check this story’s veracity.

Mr Tranum has also contacted the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He is tweeting his responses, as he gets them, here.

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45 thoughts on “‘The Garda Could, However, Still Face Disciplinary Action’

  1. Daisy Chainsaw

    Dirty fuppin pervert deserves to be put in jail for a long time, but he gets away with it because he’s a garda. If it was some rando with a camera phone he’d have been done.

    1. Rob_G

      I mean, the Garda who did it is a sh|tty person and I hope that he/she is fired, but not really clear what laws they were breaking, so I don’t know how realistic the chances of a prosecution ever was.

        1. Rob_G

          Well done, great response.

          Filming a person in a public place, and then subsequently sharing the footage of other people is not, to the best of my knowledge, in any way illegal. The circumstances in which is happened on this occasion is completely unethical, but difficult to see what laws, if any were broken.

          1. Frilly Keane

            Public place, ok agreed.
            But not in the performance of their duties as a Garda

            The Garda has to be sacked

            The Quigley family most like have a case, or indeed cases, against AGS

      1. Scundered

        You are not allowed to publish photos if people are recognisable, even if shot in a public place, I believe.

        1. Rob_G

          If that were the case, no newspaper would be able to publish photos of people walking into the courthouse, papparazzi’s photos of celebrities, etc.

          1. Listrade

            Different circumstances, they argue that right to privacy doesn’t apply due to public interest. Opinions on that vary.

            But there are restrictions. Go to a nudist beach and start taking pictures. See how long you last. Published them and see if any action is taken.

        2. Hitler

          You believe that why? Have you ever seen someones facebook feed from a night out? Plenty of published photos with people recognisable.

      2. Listrade

        Potentially Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person Act 1997. Though the main debate would be whether the filming was persistent. It could be (based on the sharing of the footage involved, if you counted each one as a separate offence), but it is a grey area and the Law Reform Commission said in 2016 that a separate offence was needed for revenge porn, upskirting etc. Based on their recommended text, there would have been a clear offence.

        However, there is still potential for a prosecution.

    2. Cian

      I’m torn.
      Some people see a naked woman on the streets.
      Bolger linked to the video to show how Dara was manhandled by the Gardaí.

      Did the video get released for titillation or to expose the polis?

  2. Starina

    “disciplinary action”: an “ah now, lad” and a slight delay to his next promotion.

  3. Rob_G

    I am glad that BS has restrained themselves from publishing the actual footage this time around.

    1. Rep

      Agreed. Bit much for them to be taking the higher moral ground here when they had no problem linking to the video at the time.

        1. Bodger

          Starina, I’m glad you are here and understand why you went away. Many felt the same and never returned. Some assumed we had only linked to the video for titillation which was the opposite of the case.

          1. b

            Bodger, what do you think of Frilly’s comment to Starina, do you support it?

            More or less telling her where to go like?

          2. Bodger

            B, you’ve used this site for years. You obviously enjoy it on some level. Why would you even think of coming here if we would be capable of doing something for the reasons Starina and others have stated? Serious question. Frilly is her own woman btw as is Starina. They can look after themselves. Why don’t you defend us for once?

          3. b

            Bodger, I’m questioning why you feel that it’s ok for Frilly to speak on the site’s behalf in such an offhand and rude manner?

            Like Cian, I’m torn with regard to BS posting the link.

          4. Cian

            I’m not torn on BS. They have stated it was for the manhandling by the police.

            I’m curious if the original garda (or whoever released it to the public) was doing it for titillation or to expose the other police

      1. Frilly Keane

        its called All The Facts Rep

        sorry you can’t cope with them
        but
        if you’re not up to it, there’s eff’ all I can ’bout it

        here try this out for size http://www.pippa.ie/

        and Star, I dunno how you can say it was without value
        It was factual evidence of Garda mistreatment.

        If you prefer your news by way of a PRone type Filtering System then here, well
        nice knowing ya

        1. Rep

          Nice to see that no matter what Broadsheet does, even posting videos of someone who has written articles having a breakdown, Frilly will be there to defend them if someone dares to point out their hypocrisy. Keep fighting the good fight there Frilly.

          I’ll say one thing for Pippa, I wouldn’t imagine her linking to what BS did about someone who contributed to her website. You may call that “PRone type Filtering System”, I call it common decency and basic cop on.

          1. Frilly Keane

            it has nothing to do with defending them, us, me, you, over there, here or anything else.

            You simply cannot blame Broadsheet for that video.

            You need to direct your ire towards An Garda Siochana
            and also ask yourself wtf else are they videoing and sharing amongst themselves for their amusement

            What else don’t me, you, an entire Charlton Tribunal, and whatever you’re having yourself know about An Garda Siochana mistreatment of citizens, whatever their state of health?

            Don’t know what FrillBit t’was, but I wrote specifically on this subject and how the Garda treated a citizen in their worst hour with a “we are not safe” premise.

            and ya know what Rep?

            You’d have known nothing about what the Gardai did to Dara Quigley without Broadsheet;
            so deal with your own outrage

            take a bubble bath
            or sum’ting

          2. Bodger

            Rep, we linked to that video before the guards scrubbed it entirely from the web as it is was important to see it to make any kind of judgement about its contents. As the video also showed the guards manahandling Dara and flinging her into the squad car it was in our view vital that her friends and those you knew Dara saw it in its entirety. We didn’t do it for clickbait or thrills and lost a lot of readers and contributors. We liked Dara very much and remain shocked at what they did to her.

          3. Bodger

            Rep, the question is why, after eight years, you cannot occasionally give us the benefit of the doubt? Even out of good manners.

            Unless you truly believe we used the video of Dara as clickbait, Which raises another question: why would you continue to bother engaging with a site like that?

          4. Tony

            Well said Bodger. Wind yer neck in Rep. there’s many things you could accuse this site of (mostly trivial pedantic things) but their decency has never been in question. They might have been wrong to post the video of Dara but they did it for what they thought were good reasons, not for click bait or exploitation.

          5. Bodger

            By the time we were sent the liveLeak link – not touted as a video of Dara but as an anonymous, naked, distressed women on a Dublin street – it had been taken off Facebook and Whatsapp.. When we opened the link, it was some days old and it was Olga, who asked: ‘Is that Dara?” There was no reference to Dara’s name on the site or in the site’s comments section. We knew Dara and she had been a Broadsheet contributor but we had no idea of the video’s existence. I think to some extent the video had been widely shared but not in ours or Dara’s circles. We posted very quickly and kept it online for as long as we could The shock and revulsion, still felt, is totally understandable but we (‘Preposterous’ mainly) felt there was no real choice. The video disappeared from LiveLeak soon after our post went up and we haven’t seen it since. To not have seen the video would have left many people, even some who loved Dara, without the opportunity to properly evaluate the Gsoc investigation at the very least.

    2. Frilly Keane

      Ah yeah
      aren’t ye very quick, but I suppose those empty shurts ye wear make it easier to get around

      here https://www.broadsheet.ie/2018/08/03/the-fifth-estate/

      and remember Broadsheet does not decide the facts you should only see
      thats entirely up to you

      and that video link, as I said at the time, was no different to news and photo journalism of a baby washed up on a beach

      btw, no one is keeping ye here
      so News in Pastels is probably a better match for yere capacity for facts
      and the Irish Times will be delighted to receive yere subs anyway

      all the best now

  4. harboner

    we have to get away from the assumption that there is another person to be blamed when a person dies by suicide

    1. Rob_G

      Even if the poor girl had not have taken her own life, it still would have absolutely unprofessional and unethical for a member of the Gardaí to share footage of a vulnerable person for a laugh.

  5. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

    I never knew her, nor was I involved in any of her posts back in the day but whenever I see a picture of her, I always think that she looks (looked) lovely.

  6. Topsy

    I just cannot understand why a member of the gardai in the exercise of his duties would do such a thing and then share it in a whatsapp group. It’s simply reprehensible and is totally unacceptable behaviour by a garda. If he can do this what else might he do in exercising his duties. There’s no place in a police force for such a person.

  7. stephen c

    1) the Garda recorded a screen showing cctv footage of Dara , there was already a recording , a blurry one at that. Many people in different professions have shared cctv shenanigans with colleagues and friends.

    2) Dara was not identifiable in the video, its actually this site alerted me and almost anyone I knew to the identity of the woman in the video. The media made the link

    3) Considering the mental health issues Dara was going through , its completely unfair to say that this video was what caused her to commit suicide.

    The Garda behaved completely inappropriately but this is a case of a woman who had issues and was suicidal taking her own life and no amount of blame can undo that.

  8. Podge

    Some real dummies in this comment section, spouting off on their opinion on laws that it would take thirty seconds to Google.

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