Is this sierra leone or belmullett? Serve and protect.

I’ve heard this being compared to the incident in Libya where police take away the women who was telling journalists she had been raped by gadafi guards. Is it that bad or are we getting carried away here? Rape is no joke a terrible terrible thing and people should be jailed for life for it. But this may be an over the top reaction to stupid juvenile behaviour on the part of Gardaí

Rape is no laughing matter. And even less so threats to rape by those who hold custodial power over us. Don’t brush this off. Is it as serious as the Libyan incident? Definitely not. But that does not mean it is not a sobering, although unsurprising, demonstration of Garda/Irish/some male (delete as appropriate) attitudes.

Out of interest, why was my link to the original audio deleted?

Jesus Christ people. Some light hearted banter amongst some red necks fresh from templemore. Real headline news. Pathetic

At least they are going to investigate the matter, for anyone who has reported a sexual assault or the like it must be very unsettling to think one of these jokers? Might be taking the details. There are definitely a lot of very good garda out there who are dedicated to their work, hopefully the rotten apples are being weeded out

This shocking & thoroughly unprofessional conversation reveals a culture entirely lacking in respect for women, who are half of the population the Garda Siochána are sworn to serve. No Garda has yet been disciplined for the fierce attacks on peaceful protestors which injured many people who were exercising their right to dissent.

I don’t believe that there was any real intention to rape these women but it doesn’t excuse their behaviour. This is a bunch of power freaks that we don’t need. We deserve better from our civil servants. These guys went further than Andy Gray and Richard Keyes, and we know what happened to them. Decent gardai will be ashamed of this, a few rotten eggs spoiling their once good name.

They should be out on the streets protecting us civilians, not working for Shell!

Wow. Lads in a car making juvenile comments. Unheard of.

It is outrageous that an allegation of such gravity would be subject of an internal Garda investigation.We require an independent impartial ombudsman with no connections to the force, as exists in Northern Ireland, to investigate any such allegations of police misconduct. This is an extremely serious matter and if true, warrants instant dismissal.

I taught a class of 13 yr old boys yesterday. It was their CSPE and we spoke as to why there is an international womens day. I showed them the bond youtube clip and entered into a discussion with them. Both myself and the other teacher were horrified at the amount of sexism that already exists at that age.

The preconceptions that boys have all the executive jobs and girls will work in shops & as cleaners. That women wouldn’t be able to do a proper job because she’d end up having 6 months off for having a baby.

While there was no intent to cause harm, the opinions clearly show that they view women as second class citizens.

Last weekend, a bunch of bouncers called me a bitch and a cunt and I still have the brusies from where they physically assaulted me when I told them their behaviour was unacceptable. My friend who also heard the insults wanted us to just walk away but I’m not that type of person. I’m judged as a hard nosed bitch because I don’t allow people to disrespect and degrade me or other women.

Where do you stand? What will you allow to slip by? How will you educate those around you to give women the respect they deserve?

It’s the people who say ‘ah sure, they’re just…’ whatever…who help create these sick attitudes in our society.
We have it with politicians and businessmen who effectively ‘rape’ the people of their rights and incomes yet the ‘Oirish’ laugh it off and sometimes even seem to show admiration for those men (almost always men) who have taken us for a ride.

Ms. Ussher discusses bouncers, these are a private police force, who for the most part are behaved, yet there are some who seem to be jacked up on steroids and who provoke criminal incidents. It frightens me to see and hear of these incidents, we seem to be policed by men who are ‘lightly’ policed themselves.

As someone who was a recent victim of Garda abuse (both verbal and physical, plus my husband was verbally attacked once) I now have a different perspective on the Gardaí and since my extremely negative encounter with them I’m more aware of the regular reports I hear regarding them abusing members of the public. In my case they got away with it because there was (is) no CCTV in the Garda station (as in many Garda stations).

Every other day here in Cork I see them breaking red lights, making illegal turns, cutting people off, and parking across footpaths (all without lights and sirens) – this may appear to be minor but when ‘civilians’ do these things they get fined and get points (at best). This, for me, displays the level of contempt that many, though not all, members of An Garda Síochána have for the rest of us and it should not be tolerated.

Joking about raping someone is no joke, especially for anyone who has experienced a sexual assault (and many in this country have), and a lack of empathy for people who are vulnerable (in custody) shows a serious immaturity and a dreadful failing on the part of Irish people.

@ Thomas Harney How can you consider a Man using the word Rape as some light headed banter, to think that this Garda, either junior or senior had the mentality to use the word as a joke says something about himself. The golden rule for Comedians is never to make a joke about RAPE………..and then a member of the Garda Siochana…’jokes about give me your name and address or ill Rape you’……..I think even the most high profile Criminals the ones the get the most abuse in prison are Rapists……..So light headed banter I think not……..if you do…..well i have to say Shame on you…..

The depth in quality of our public servants knows no bounds. Imagine if we gave these morons a gun.

@ Thomas faa……I know I would not laugh at a comedian making a ‘joke’ about ‘Rape’……and if ‘Rape’ is a private joke for men to banter about in the canteen its a sure sign of sick twisted people……..if you are to make a comment at all please make it worthwhile for people to read………this is a serious situation…….not some ‘canteen banter’…….

I find some of the comments here from men very disturbing, the suggestion this is harmless banter and does not have sinister undertones that reflect attitudes to women. Its this the level of respect these men have for their wives and girlfriends they would almost brag about such conversations. What would happen to you think, if two Catholic priests were overheard joking about raping a child, would that be considered harmless banter? I don’t think so, people would be calling for them to be burned at the stake. Yet here are members of our police force in equally responsible positions in our society people who are trusted with protecting the citizens of the Irish state, individuals who deal with vulnerable people every day, here they are caught joking about raping a women (a student) in custody. They discredit the uniform of the Garda Officer and their colleagues in the force and make me ashamed to call myself an Irish man.

it turns out that the women were not present when this banter went on between a few young guards having the craic amongst themselves……. get over it.

Guards make politically incorrect jokes in private shocker!!!!

The numbers of women who report rape or sexual assault to the Gardai is already quite low for a variety of reasons. It is a very traumatic experience to report such an attack to the Gardai under normal circumstances.

Whilst Gardai are obviously given some basic training in sensitive report taking, only in recent years have a few juristictions had members of the Gardai specifically trained to deal with such situations, a very small number of stations have a special, comfortable room for such reports – in many stations the woman making the report has to sit in an interview room which is far from ideal.

Behaviour such as this on behalf on Gardai makes the reporting of a rape or sexual assault almost completely unthinkable now in that part of Mayo – or where ever these Gardai get transferred to.

This is far too serious an issue to be investigated by the Gardai – it must be investigated independently.

Of Course Banter goes on between men about different activities or fantasys they may have regarding women……but its obvious that a minority of men have a twisted mind when it comes to ‘canteen banter’ or ‘having the craic between themselves’ regarding Rape…….Gurards are regarded as ‘high standing members of the community’….. who are ‘supposed to protect us at all levels…….this has hit all headlines and probably will hit the European headlines…… im interested to see how many dislikes are on certain comments on this matter…..I think it states the obvious…….as I said before please leave comments that are worthwhile reading ……Joke as you may…. but would you find it funny if you heard a man commenting that he would like to Rape your daughter, sister, mother…etc…….I think not……

Some of the comments on this story are a real eye opener ( assuming they are not trolling). I would like to think that most Irish men, and in particular those who are Gardai aren’t neanderthal frat boys who think “joking about rape is funny”. Is this kind of asinine carry on really still a part of so-called man-culture in this country? I’m a man and have never felt the need to joke about rape to feel masculine or to be one of the lads. Would ye joke about it if you or a friend or a member of your families were subjected to sexual assault? The stats say that one in four people in Ireland experience sexual abuse/violence. maybe ye find that funny too.

@ Hammersteind….well said…..:)

@ David./….Of course nothing happened…. but why would a person joke about something so disturbing , to say that these ‘young’ gardai were having banter and unfortunately they were caught…..I hope justice will be done for all involved…. Nothing happened….. but the word Rape is not used in every day language…..only in the Courts….!!!!

just listened to the entire video. The guards are in the canteen afterwards, eating and the song “Try a little Kindness” is playing on the radio in the background. The chorus is:
“You got to try a little kindness
Yes show a little kindness
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness
Then you’ll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets”

Classic!!!!!

BTW
In my entire life I`ve never heard any one “joke” about rape, and I have been in some “rough” canteens. Yes of course men talk about sex and lots of it, but “rape” being bandied about in banter is not accepted.

I hope there are no inappropriate remarks made to Brenda at Croker, remember she has Trident ;-)

I don’t know if this was referred to in earlier comments that aren’t viewable now, but – I reckon the taboo and gravity of the term ‘rape’ was diminished with Tommy Tiernans infamous sketch regarding ‘Declan Moffitt’ (YouTube it if you haven’t seen), and at the time of this DVD being released, jokes and references of this nature became common place amongst a certain age of men AND women, due to the ability to absolve responsibility for using the term by referencing that sketch.
Not saying it’s right, I just think that’s where it stems from..

people who say its a only a bit of a laugh are completely missing the point. Of course anyone who listening to the recording can tell that there was no intent behind the comments and that they are throw away remarks made by immature redneck men, but that’s not the point. The point is that by joking about rape so casually they are trivialising it and making light of something that should be so repugnant to men that they don’t find it funny, regardless of the circumstances or setting. This is made worse because they are Gardai, supposedly educated and aware of the damage sexual violence does.

A society that trivialises rape needs to be challenged – how can anyone defend trivialising rape? I find it disappointing that those who see light hearted banter about rape as a laughing matter, dont see the connection between this trivialising attitude and the other end of the scale: a society that is rife with sexual violence and an accompanying failure to stamp it out.

Rape crisis networks across the world recognise that in order to reduce sexual violence they need to get men on board and challenge an attitude that seeing women as second class citizens. In its most basic form this starts with an attitudinal change among men. I don’t condemn the men involved to dismissal for being foolish, but I do condemn an attitude that gives normalcy to rape by laughing at this abhorrent crime against the vulnerable. If you joke about rape, then you trivialise it. Maybe the same people would joke about ethnic cleansing, violent rape pornography, or other such unpalatable topics in private, in which case Ide invite you to reexamine your sense of humour and adjust your attitude. Educate your self on sexual violence in Ireland and realise that someone you know has probably experienced it, or might do in the future. (1 in 4 according to the research)

We live in a culture rife with victim blaming, and under reporting and abysmal conviction rates are the norm. The way people view rape in Ireland has to change, I shudder when I recall the incident in Tralee where a bouncer was convicted of rape and 50 locals stood up to shake his hand in court. Similarly, it is shocking to see the attitudes of the locals in the recent case in the US where up to 20 men are accused of the gang rape of an 11 year old child. When we see rape as a joke, as a trivial matter, we are completely missing the point.

The good that comes from this incident is that we get to lift the lid on a culture of trivialising rape that whether we realise it or not indirectly contributes to our miserable failure to deal with its prevention and positive recovery for victims.

The Gardai obviously need a lot more education on these matters and Ireland needs an attitudinal change, because if this buffoonery leads to even one rape victim not feeling able or confident to approach the Gardai then that really is a tragedy.

Are red neck men a species or something. Have they a special pass to be forgiven for behaviour other men would be hung drawn and quartered for. And if you call someone red neck what type of person are you

Is Rape a Crime?
Do the Gardaí always laugh at crime?
These guys understood enough to Threaten Rape as an Intimidation;
Hence they understood that Rape is about power, not sex; about force and violence — or the threat of it — to take control over these women. Rape is a crime, whether the person committing it is a stranger, a date, an acquaintance, or a family member, and all the more so if one is a “Guardian of the Peace”
The vast majority of Gardaí do not act or think like this! (however) I am 100% sure no member Gardaí would use Rape as a threat if the protestor/s were men.
Consequently they have shown that Rape is a conditional crime which can be almost OK if the crime is committed against a woman.