Judge criticises GSOC over garda investigation
Updated / Friday, 15 Jan 2021
19:44
Crime Correspondent
A judge has criticised the Garda Ombudsman Commission for prosecuting a garda who was cleared in court of any wrongdoing.
Garda Noel Gibbons was charged with assault, false imprisonment and giving misleading information to GSOC in connection with the arrest of a Dublin Bus driver two and a half years ago.
The Garda arrested David Stamper in Dublin city centre on 15 September 2018 after the bus driver began flashing at him for driving in a bus lane and refused to give the garda his name or details when stopped.
Garda Gibbons, who is based at Pearse Street Garda Station, in Dublin and has also appeared as a presenter on RTÉ s Crimecall programme, had been driving his car and making a turn into the Garda station at the time.
I ve been tempted to set a homeless person s tent on fire on a few different occasions, just to ensure they have a proper roof over their head that night.
Those are the words of Alan Lawes, a long time volunteer with various agencies that support Ireland s homeless, clearly illustrate the frustration homeless aid workers feel with the system.
Lawes, an inner-city Dubliner, who is an Independent councillor in his adopted county of Meath, works with a community alert group in his own neck of the woods and with Inner City Helping the Homeless (ICHH), in the capital.
He s adamant the system is letting the homeless down.