Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice Martin Kenny TD has reiterated his call for the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, to come before the Oireachtas Justice Committee regarding the cancellation of 999 calls by Gardaí.

Teachta Kenny said:

“When someone rings 999, they are in trouble and they need urgent help. Those who make such calls deserve a proper response from emergency services.

“The Garda Commissioner has now apologised for the failure of the Gardaí to provide an appropriate policing response in relation to more than 600 domestic violence related calls in his appearance before the Policing Authority this afternoon. He has also accepted that the scale of this may require an external examination and that should be considered by the Minister for Justice without delay. 

“The idea that Gardaí were not following up on these calls flies in the face of all that policing and safeguarding of citizens is meant to be – I hope that appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against those who engaged in this practice.

“If we take it that there are thousands of calls which were cancelled by Gardaí regarding domestic incidents, there must be thousands more relating to common assault, burglary, trespass and other such offences. The extent of this must be appropriately investigated.

“Commissioner Harris needs to come before the Oireachtas Justice Committee to report on this matter.

“It is a frightening scenario when people cannot rely on the Gardaí to respond in an emergency, not to mention the skewing of crime statistics that would result in the cancellation of genuine calls for help.”