The Garda Commissioner has defended the decision to publish 99 photographs of “persons of interest” as part of the investigation into the Dublin riots last year.
Drew Harris said that An Garda Síochána carried out its own data protection assessment before it released the images, saying it met the public’s human rights requirements.
Mr Harris, who was speaking at a cross-border conference in Co Cavan, said that given the seriousness of the offences it was “entirely proportionate”.
He made the comments after it was reported that An Garda Síochána did not consult the Data Protection Commission before it published the images online.
Mr Harris said that it led to the identities of 90 people being confirmed.
“I have to say safeguards were already put in place. We did our own data protection impact assessment and these photographs were only released after we had made efforts within the organisation, both locally and then across the organisation, across An Garda Síochána, to identify those individuals who we thought would assist with our inquiries,” he said.
“But then secondly, they were only, in effect, displayed for a set period of time. It was very successful, and some 90 of them were positively identified.
“That’s on top of the 54 other individuals who’ve been identified as being important to our inquiries into the disorder on November 23rd.
“It is entirely necessary to follow through that investigation and entirely proportionate, given the seriousness of those events that night, and I think that in those terms we met our human rights requirements.”
The DPC said the release of the images was justified as it is a major ongoing investigation.
Mr Harris said the force’s priority has been those who took part in the rioting, but added that he is aware of online social media comments posted on the night.
The violence broke out after three children and a care worker were injured in an attack outside a primary school and creche on Parnell Square East, for which a man has been charged and been brought to court.
A garda car, buses and a Luas tram were set on fire, shops were looted and infrastructure, such as traffic lights, was damaged during the riot.
Of the 28 vehicles damaged that night, 15 were official garda cars and two belonged to Dublin Fire Brigade.
Gardaí said that 66 premises or places of business were subject to criminal damage.
“The main investigative effort has been towards those who were physically involved, such as the range and breadth of the offending across that night, including riot, damage and looting of property, that we had a large-scale investigation, some 19,000 hours of CCTV recovered,” Mr Harris said.
“That has been our priority in terms of the offending that night. Obviously, then we’re aware of the sentiments being expressed over social media, but a lot of it was from jurisdictions beyond Ireland, and that had a big impact on the night.
“We can see just the origin and the origin was from other countries.”
Mr Harris attended the cross-border policing strategy conference alongside PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher.
Mr Boutcher said that he contacted Mr Harris on the night of the rioting and offered assistance.
He said it was an example of their cross-border policing relationship.
“When the Dublin disorder occurred, I called Drew when it became clear about the scale and level of violence, to see if there was anything we could do to help from the north,” Mr Boutcher said.
“That led to our water cannon being provided. That’s the sort of relationship we have. Too many policing organisations who border each other, and Drew and I have quite an extensive history in policing, often don’t work cohesively. They don’t work collectively. They don’t work collaboratively.
“One thing about An Garda Síochána and the PSNI is that we do that on all levels, and today is another example of how we’re always trying to continually improve that.”
