Garda Commissioner reveals she has been assaulted on the beat as GRA calls for audit of attacks
The Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan has revealed she has been assaulted while on the beat, but has stopped short of agreeing to a full audit of garda assaults.
Ms O'Sullivan is being asked by the Garda Representative Association to perform the audit, as rank and file members believe they are hugely underreported.
Some 5,400 assaults on gardaí have been recorded in 10 years.
Commissioner O’Sullivan says she takes assault very seriously.
She said: "I’ve been bitten, I've been spat at, I've been assaulted. I know what it's like to wait at home where you have a family member assaulted, and you are waiting to see have they recovered from a very serious injury.
"So, I can empathise with all our members who go out every single day to do a good job, I can empathise with their families who wait to see if they come home safely, I know what that feels like.
"What I can say is that we treat every single assault on every single one of our members extremely seriously."
