Andrew Carey
LIMERICK’S most senior Garda has disputed claims that the force needs to have a “cultural change from the top down” towards members of the gay and lesbian community.
In a presentation made to a meeting of the city and county Joint Policing Committee, claims were made that poople from the lesbian, gay bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community were afraid to report crimes to the Garda as they are not confident they would be met with a “fair and sympathetic response”.
Adam Long, a board member with the National Lesbian and Gay Federation, told the meeting that there was a “chronic underreporting of homophobic crime which is not fully accepted by the authorities”.
Responding, Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan said he was “miffed” that a national issue was brought up at a local forum.
However, in the presentation given by Mr Long, on ‘Understanding and Meeting the Modern Policing Needs of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Community,” the NLGF board member referred to research carried out by the European Fundamental Rights Agency, which found that 81 per cent of the LGBT community do not report crime .
He went on to say that research conducted as recently as last May concluded that same sex couples were uncomfortable holding hands in public and that 50 per cent of Irish gay people had felt discriminated against in the last 12 months. He said that this was much higher than most European countries.
Almost one third of the Irish LGBT community had been physically or sexually assaulted in the last five years.
“We have to address the issue. Homophobic crime is a serious problem in this country, a hidden problem in many respects”, he said.
Attitudes to the rights of gay and lesbians is changing according to Mr Long who warned that societal acceptance must be evident in State bodies.
“The picture is mixed as there has been progress in recent times, but it needs to be reflected in all our agencies.”
Addressing the gardai, Mr Long insisted that in “most modern police force” regular training takes place and claimed this was not the case in Ireland.
“There is a general scattering of good individuals but there has to be an equality culture at an institutional level,” he added.
After the presentation, Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan insisted that Limerick gardaí had received a lot of training and the force was very much “to the fore in equality right issues”.
There was one Garda Sergeant liasion officer and seven other members trained in this area.
