CLAIMS THAT POLICE from Northern Ireland had been recruited to police protests against asylum seekers in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, have no basis.
They rely on screenshots from an act of the Oireachtas that is not in force, as well as photos from the scene.
These photos are claimed to show evidence that members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are active in the area – but they do not.
The Gardaí have also confirmed to The Journal that no PSNI officers had been policing the protests with them.
Newtownmountkennedy in Co Wicklow has been the site of numerous protests in recent weeks after locals opposed plans to house asylum seekers at a disused site nearby.
Gardaí say that fires had been started around the site, that gardaí had been attacked, and that one patrol car had been damaged with an axe.
Four people appeared in court after protests at the site last month.
The Journal was able to find more than a dozen tweets on X.com, as well as posts on Facebook and videos on Instagram and YouTube, suggesting that PSNI officers had been policing the protests at Newtownmountkennedy, including comments made by political figures.
“Someone should do a freedom of information and see how many Northern Irish police thugs were in Newtownmountkennedy,” Ben Gilroy wrote on X.com “I thought when looking at the terrible scenes that it was a bit over the top even for the thuggish element of the Gardaí, but now it makes sense, they were the free-state hating thug cops of Northern Ireland.”
Ben Gilroy ran as a candidate for EU elections in 2019 and has previously spread misinformation about migrants and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gilroy announced he was relaunching Direct Democracy Ireland under the new name, Liberty Republic. Direct Democracy Ireland is a registered political party, an officer for the party confirmed to The Journal that it is transitioning to Liberty Republic. So far, they do not appear to have candidates registered to contest upcoming elections.
“Sneak in a new law that allows you draft enemies of the state to join the Garda and hey presto, savage brutal violence against the sovereign people of éire [sic],” Gilroy said, referencing the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act, 2024.
Part of that Act reads:
“The Garda Commissioner may, at the request of the Chief Constable—
“(a) appoint a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland as a member of An Garda Síochána of a rank not above that of superintendent for a period not exceeding 3 years, or
“(b) subject to the approval of the Board, appoint such a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland as a member of An Garda Síochána of a rank of Assistant Garda Commissioner or chief superintendent for such period.”
In other words, the bill would allow PSNI members to be temporarily appointed as Gardaí, in line with Gilroy’s assertion.
So, does this backup Gilroy’s claims that the government had snuck this provision in through a new law, and that Gardaí at Newtownmountkennedy were actually PSNI officers?
No.
The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act, 2024, was passed by Dáil Eireann in 2023 and signed into law by the president in February.
However, secondments from Northern Irish police have been in place long before this act was made a law, and, more importantly, the 2024 act has not been commenced.
“The Garda Síochána Act 2005 provides (sections 52 and 53) for appointments and secondments from the PSNI to An Garda Síochána,” a spokesperson for the Department of Justice told The Journal.
“This Act remains in force. The President signed the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 on 7 February. It has not yet been commenced.”
This is outlined in the second paragraph of the 2024 bill – it does not come into effect until the Minister for Justice commences it, which can be done at the minister’s discretion.
So, while it is possible for PSNI officers to serve as Gardaí, this has been the case for almost 20 years and, based on 2022 figures, such secondments tend to be used sparingly.
However, Gilroy is not the only person to assert that PSNI officers were policing Newtownmountkennedy. At least a dozen other posts were found spreading similar claims, including one video with more than 35,000 views.
Some offered evidence other than the uncommenced 2024 legislation.
“What looks like a former PSNI command and control unit is on site at River Lodge, Trudder #Newtownmountkennedy”, one account with paid-for “verification” wrote in a post viewed more than 6,500 times reads.
“Personally, I fear for those thinking of attending any protest in the town Monday. This is not good news, but it seems to confirm the rumors of Northern Irish police moving South.”
The tweet included a picture of a suspect command and control unit, as well as a photo of a British police vehicle for comparison.
However, unlike what the tweet implies, the vehicles do not match.
Both vehicles have different markings in different areas; the Irish unit has blacked out windows while the British version has grating; the Irish version has two long, thin structures on the roof at either end of the vehicle, compared to the British versions round and square structures; the tyre placement differs significantly between the vehicles; the British version has a visible access hatch to the side while the Irish version doesn’t.
The garda vehicle shown does match some other images of vehicles though, down to the “CU3” and “Garda Command and Control Unit” shown on the side.
Readily available online photos show that the same type of vehicle has been used – by An Garda Síochána, not the PSNI – for 15 years.
The evidence used to suggest that police at the Newtownmountkennedy protests were PSNI officers – new gardaí powers that are not actually new, pictures of British police vehicles that have actually been in use by Gardaí for more than a decade – is false.
“To clarify, members of An Garda Síochána were the only policing personnel deployed during the recent disturbances at Newtownmountkennedy,” a Gardaí spokesperson told The Journal.
“An Garda Síochána continues to be aware of significant levels of misinformation and disinformation continuously being propagated, primarily on social media and messaging apps.
“It is not just the responsibility of An Garda Síochána to challenge this misinformation circulating in society but also the responsibility of mainstream civic society and media.”
The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
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