From top: Garda HQ in Phoenix Park; Paul Williams and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris
“What we know so far is that the specially adapted Range Rover, belonging to the PSNI’s close protection team, was delivering Drew Harris to the Phoenix Park following a visit to the North on Monday, 25 March.The Northern vehicle was driving in convoy behind an ERU vehicle that met the escort at the Border.
After the ERU vehicle drove in, the quick-thinking garda on sentinel duty was alarmed.
After all, she had spotted an unknown Northern-registered car driving towards the gates and immediately moved to activate the security bollard which is designed to prevent a suspect vehicle entering the complex.
…Drew Harris is still very much settling into his role as commissioner and his relationship with many of his top management staff is described as purely professional.
But despite any initial embarrassment about the actual incident, Mr Harris should in fact be congratulating the garda on the gate for her quick, clear-headed reaction to an alarming situation.”
Paul Williams, Irish Independent this morning
However…
“There was no security incident at Garda HQ on 25 March 2019. A newly installed bollard malfunctioned and caught the underside of the vehicle the Commissioner was travelling in. This happened at a walking pace. No vehicles were flipped.
The malfunction was quickly fixed and vehicular traffic went in and out of Garda HQ as normal that day. As per our previous statement, normal movement procedures were followed in relation to the Commissioner.”
Garda Press Office statement this afternoon.
Someone’s flipping fibbing.
YOU must decide.
Yesterday: What The Flip Is Going On?
Don’t care. Move on. Non story
Exactly
If he was assassinated by republican nuts they would be moaning about collusion
Over to Mary lou for her view
I choose the truth with the car flipping because it’s cooler
I hope Williams is being made a fool, after kissing up to the guards for years.
This story was broken by the Mirror on Saturday evening
“The garda saw a Northern Ireland jeep driving at a pace towards the barriers (at Garda HQ)….A garda pressed the emergency button when she didn’t recognise the unmarked black jeep trying to enter the compound”
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/garda-commissioner-drew-harris-jeep-14247242
“at a pace” to me means “at speed”, it certainly doesn’t mean 4 miles per hour, which is “a walking pace” as claimed in the Garda statement above.
Has GSOC opened an investigation yet? The approval given by a member of AGS to heavily armed PSNI to carry out routine tasks on the streets of Dublin, the behaviour by the Commissioner in approaching the gates of Garda HQ and the ensuing incident.
Surely some video footage to support one of the accounts. Maybe Paul Reynolds can shed some light on it later. Nothing an independent RTE investigation to get to the truth.
so whoever was on sentry duty wasn’t told in advance or at least radioed ahead to be advised that the chief is coming into HQ in a PSNI Vehicle behind an ERU team?
i would never usually attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity but that takes the whole packet of biscuits.
Didn’t I already say
Earlier in the week here somewhere
Sum’ting like
Fair play to the Garda on duty for relying on her training and following procedure
Blah blah
Nice that Paul Williams agrees
Even if he is as rotten as ..ck
Williams relative has retired from the Guards and so Williams does not have the access he used to. No breaking stories for a good while now.
The head of the police forgot to notify herself at the front gate. Fair enough. He would be familiar with the spiked procedure. We had some ‘exotic’ NI guests during Mary McAleese’s tenure who were genuinely happy to see her.
Still friends I believe.
I do not like careless and I definitively do not like mind games. Tell the truth for once please, without spin.
was the driver pssnid?
Jaysus. Didn’t recognise Paul Williams. Looking old.
and vaguely trans….
I wonder if Harris has an issue with Williams? He wouldn’t have had any particular view of him when up North, if even aware of him, then he comes down for the AGS job and decides to read up on this and that, comes across Paul ‘exclusive access’ Williams and decides he doesn’t want that sort of tabloidesque image attached to them especially in light of Williams role in the whole Sgt. McCabe saga.
Also, RuilleBuille says above that his relative retired so there is that too. What it seems to add up to is Paul appears to be frozen out of live issues and has to depend on opinion and hearsay it would appear?
Anyway, no idea what the real background to this story is but if Harris is freezing out Williams then that has to be a good thing?
Just dawned on me who Harris reminds me of.
Anyone remember Harry Worth?