Niall O'Connor

INTERNATIONAL FAR RIGHT activists amplified a false narrative accusing a garda of spraying a teenager at this month’s fuel protest at Whitegate in Cork, his colleagues have said. 

It is now two weeks since the end of the protests that gripped the country, with the Whitegate Refinery being one of the country’s critical infrastructure locations that was blockaded. 

Peter Firth, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) local representative for Waterford, said the garda in question and other members who policed Whitegate had become the victim of an international hate campaign.

As previously reported by The Journal the garda, who is stationed in County Waterford was attacked and doxxed, his home address was given and his family identified in a spate of intimidation.

Doxxing involves the sharing of personal data of a person online to intimidate the victim. Firth has said this is now a common occurrence for gardaí.

The Garda’s details were reshared also by well known far right agitator Tommy Robinson, who called on people to identify the garda and called him a “traitor”.

A senior investigative officer, based at Bandon Garda Station, has been appointed to lead investigations into incidents arising out of the Whitegate fuel protests. This includes online intimidation of gardaí.

Sources said garda investigators have large volumes of footage, gathered by CCTV, body worn cameras on gardaí and videos recorded by plain clothes gardaí which will be used in prosecutions.  

The Journal observed these plain clothes evidence gatherers in Whitegate on a number of occasions, as we reported from the scene. 

Firth explained how his colleague, who is just one of many victims of doxxing, was targeted. 

“He produced his pepper spray, he gave a verbal warning, and he put it back into his utility belt without ever actually using the spray,” he said, of the incident captured and shared online by Tommy Robinson and others. 

On the day of the lifting of the blockade, uniformed gardaí as well as public order unit members formed a line to clear protestors from around a number of tractors used to block the road. 

At one point, Firth said, the uniformed garda took his pepper spray from its holster, pointed it at a protestor or protestors he felt threatened by, and, after issuing the warning that he would use it, put it back in its scabbard. 

The pepper spray order given as the gardaí pushed forward came from a public order-equipped Inspector who was giving orders or directions to his members. He gave the order for a specific form of pepper spray to be used – a form contained in a large canister and only carried by Public Order Unit gardaí.

Firth said there were incidents of AI being used to doctor pictures of gardaí.

There’s evidence that some of the images of the Garda whose picture was shared by Robinson have been subtly altered with AI, with background details changed in some versions.

Firth said that a narrative developed quickly after the incident and that that narrative was reshared and amplified. 

“As a result of that, he was named online. His full home address was given, and his parents were subject to online abuse and comment by people.”

Firth said that the impact of the doxxing on gardaí is far-reaching – it means they are now being “attacked when they’re off duty … their property threatened, their lives threatened, and their family threatened.” 

Peter Firth of the GRA. Conor Ó Mearáin. Conor Ó Mearáin.

Investigation

Chris Daley, a garda stationed on the northside of Cork city who was a Public Order Unit member at the scene in Whitegate, said that he was targeted and his image spread online. However, the posts did not go viral to the extent that he was doxxed. 

He said he was contacted by senior gardaí to offer support to him and the senior investigative officers leading the probe also spoke to him.

He said he was one of the Public Order Unit gardaí on duty at Whitegate and his picture was circulated online but those seeking to intimidate him did not get his identity. 

“I suppose it’s grand for me but my biggest worry would be if I wasn’t at home, if somebody taken my address and I wasn’t at home, my wife and my kids would have to deal with.”

As revealed by The Journal last week the vast majority of complaints against gardaí who policed the Whitegate fuel blockade in east Cork have been rejected by the garda watchdog. 

Fiosrú, the garda ombudsman, said that there were 101 complaints made nationally against gardaí during the recent fuel protests. 

Thirty of those related to gardaí who were working on the operation to clear Whitegate of protestors. 

Fiosrú said that an examination of the 30 complaints found that 22 were inadmissible, five have been determined to be admissible and a further three are still being assessed.