Mandatory minimum sentencing is essential for those found guilty of attacks on Emergency Services workers, Galway-based senator Ollie Crowe said last evening.
His call comes following an attack on gardai in Ballyfermot in Dublin last weekend, video footage of which went viral and required both gardai attacked to seek hospital treatment, with one staying in hospital overnight.
“Suspended sentences have frequently been handed down by the courts for such attacks, with this again happening in a case which involved a severe attack on a garda weeks ago where again the perpetrators walked free having been found guilty. That is no deterrent to thugs who carry out such attacks.”
Senator Crowe noted this was not limited to gardai and stated there were 41 cases of direct physical assault on staff working in ambulance services around the country during 2020 and 2021, along with A&E staff being attacked and firefighters have also been targeted.
“These people are our front line staff, who risk their health and well-being every day they go out to work, they do so for the benefit of all of us, they are being attacked far too often and rarely if ever are appropriate sentences handed down to those who carry out such attacks.”
The Garda Representative Association have also called for the introduction of mandatory minimum sentencing following attacks on their members.
Senator Crowe noted that other Jurisdictions have already taken this necessary step including Australia where the minimum sentence for anyone convicted of assaulting an emergency worker is seven years, with a maximum sentence of 15 years for more serious assaults. In the UK, there is a minimum sentence of two years for anyone convicted of assaulting an emergency worker.
“It is time Ireland also took these necessary measures. It is time that those who carry out sickening attacks on our emergency services workers faced punishments which reflect the seriousness of their offence,” Senator Crowe concluded.
