Yea, long overdue

how about turning the heat up on white collar crime as we all know it is rampant in the country.

Good man Dara. At last someone has the minimal personal safety in mind for helping the 999′s do their job

Seems a reasonable idea to me. Hopefully it will get all parties support.

It’s a bit out of proportion when you put it beside jail terms dished out for murder and manslaughter!

True! A mandatory sentence would speak volumes! Take the option for
Soft sentencing out of the judiciary’s hands!!

I agree and am just wondering what the anti side of the debate will be??? Hmmm protect the rights of the abusers??? Just wondering? Will be interesting to see if anyone votes against this and what their reasons will be!

Thats exactly my point they know the judge will take the same view. I didnt hit anyone and i certainly didnt hit a woman. When I went back to the club to try and get one of the bouncers to tell what happened in court I was told they dont get involved in such matters i.e. they want to stay on the good side of he garda. And just for your information the same garda was in court over a high profile case about holding someone against their will and lying about it, just to give you an idea about what I was dealing with.

Oh that’s convenient!! Same Garda was it!? Grow up Felix & more importantly learn to handle your drink! Your Court appearance has obviously taught you nothing!!

Im sorry but you must know more of what happenedvthan I do. Whayt exactly do you mean that I have learnt nothing or is that just a hollow comment to give yourself a feeling of superiority it a sad life that you live

Where to begin!?! Firstly, by your own admission, you were drunk so you’re an unreliable witness yourself! And of course, what would I know of it as I wasn’t there, but your opinion of the Gardai is skewed because you feel you were wrongly convicted in Court…by a Judge…not the Guard! The state needs to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you have a case to answer for if you were indeed convicted there must be holes in your defence and thus your story as a whole! Secondly, if your story is genuine & true, fair enough but the true moral of the story is be wary of the rare dodgy Guard but don’t taint the whole lot of them because of one bad experience!

Well we’ve capital punishment (although not carried out, as the president commuted the sentence to 40yrs) for years if a member of GS was murdered, only changed to 40 years in 1990 when we removed the death penalty. Garda and a soldier died during bank robbery in 80′s, prison sentences would of been 40years for garda and life for soldier, hardly seemed fair!

Proper assault laws with severe “maximum” penalties are already there but the courts are far too soft with them in most cases. New laws won’t be any different and these laws for assaulting emergency workers won’t be any better than what’s already there.
The laws are there, it’s their interpretation in the Irish courts that’s the problem. They always find some excuse to let thugs off

@ john – think that’s the point we’re all missing actually. Good point.

Very good point, it is courts interpretation that allow thugs off or with reduced sentences!

On the main point, I feel certain occupations require more support in this regard as they will clearly put in the firing line more often. That said, this could probably be extended to cover more people such as cash in transit van staff etc.

Apply some reason here. On the grounds that the attack might be provoked by the officer in an otherwise peaceful demonstration. Verbal comments or sometimes slyly spitting on demonstrators historically has been used to
Provoke a reaction which allows beatings to proceed. If its fair and applied fairly I have no objection. A police state is a dangerous road to go. Absolute power corrupts .

Alas Rory it has been rejected. The govt claimed the public order act has sufficient penalties.

Our employers….a great bunch of lads….

McNamees On TheGreen

And what about those of us not involved in law enforcement, those of us involved in healthcare and fire and rescue? Those of us who are called upon to help others when their lives are at their very worst?? Are we free game are we?? Don’t try turn this into anti Garda drivel

Sober?
On Camden street?
Something fishy with that story…

Unless you have been spat in the eye by a person known to have hep c or HIV, have had to got to A&E for blood test fearful that there may have been blood in the saliva. Go through the fear of being restricted from certain interaction with your wife and baby if infected then you don’t understand that this is worse than a punch or kick

What’s your basis for that? Scandalous accusation to make with no proof whatsoever!

agenda much?!

So you are claiming that because of the one or two cases where Gardai have been found to lie about a situation all the rest of the Gardai should not be offered protection under this law?

Sure ER staff could lie too, feck it so could firemen, I guess we shouldn’t offer them support and protection under this law…..hell lets scrap the law.

Baseless nonsense claiming that all Gardai lie about situations!

Take off your tin foil hat, sit down, and take a deep breath.

i agree gav open to abuse by garda.

on the basis that some of us know guards who r thugs.open to abuse by guards who do get caught lying eg case in waterford last year. quick journal delete delete

@Gav..Did you require a translator for your Charge Sheet to put into “txt spk”…

@ Richard
Well what about the decent Gardai that some of us have come into contact with!?! The ones that go that little bit further to provide a quality service!?! Do you not think they deserve extra protection from getting their head kicked in on some council estate!??

Yes, that lot should get 10 years for ignorance alone.

As posted by another user on the poll page, this draft only details the following persons

“emergency worker” means:
15 (a) any member of the Garda Síochána as provided for in the
Garda Síochána Act 2005;
(b) any employee of the Health Service Executive providing
an ambulance service for the transportation of seriously
ill people to hospital or between hospitals;
20 (c) any employee of a private ambulance transport service
providing an ambulance service for the transportation of
seriously ill people to hospital or between hospitals;
(d) any member of the Civil Defence Ambulance Corps;
(e) any employee of a Local Authority established under the
25 Local Government Act 2001 and who are members of a
fire crew travelling to or from the scene of a fire;
(f) any medical practitioner or nurse providing medical care
in the Accident and Emergency ward of a public or
private hospital;

So no mention of hospital security (one in Cork was attacked with a hatchet a few years back) or if a person is attacked on an inpatient ward?

And how many cases of scobes kicking the head in of a guard?
Cop on bud, while there may be dodgy guards around (undoubtedly), there are plenty more scobes and skangers who need to be removed from society. Your indictment of the Gardai is very, very telling, to say the least.

I have and have witnessed experienced the same, but there’s good and bad everywhere and ultimately this should give emergancy service workers the protection they deserve, I mean what idiot stones or bottles fire fighters or ambulance crews ?

I have and have witnessed experienced the same, but there’s good & bad everywhere and ultimately this should give emergancy service workers the protection they deserve, I mean what idiot stones or bottles fire fighters or ambulance crews ?

So you are painting all Gardai the same based on one “apparent” incident?

Nonsense,

I was in court before for being drunk (my own fault I know) and tring to stop some guy from attaking my brother. I didnt swing one punch at him and in court the garda swore on the bible that when she got down there I was going toe to toe with the other guy and then I attacked her. It was funny when she said this because when she arrived the bouncers were hold me and held onto me untill I was cuffed and in the back of the squad car.
Moral of the story is garda will often lie to get more convictions.

You seem like a well balanced young man. A chip on both shoulders. A Garda who would lie to secure a conviction is immoral and down right criminal. I am in a relationship with a Garda and I can tell you they are some of the most honest, sincere and decent group of people. They would frown on a colleague who was underhand. Complain to the Ombudsman if you have evidence of malpractice. If not maybe you need to grow up a bit Gav.

Shouldn’t you be studying for your Junior Certificate?