An Garda Síochána has said it was responding to dozens of calls from concerned members of the public when it deployed units to ATMs around the country on Tuesday night.
Its statement comes amid accusations that the Garda was acting as “private security for Bank of Ireland” following the force’s response to a banking glitch which allowed people to withdraw money they did not have.
A now resolved glitch in Bank of Ireland’s systems caused widespread disruption to its network on Tuesday and allowed customers to withdraw up to €1,000 of cash even if their account was empty.
This resulted in large queues of people at ATMs around the country as some customers sought to take advantage of the error.
Gardaí were deployed in various locations to prevent people withdrawing money from ATMs and to disperse queues of people waiting to use them.
On Wednesday evening, a Garda spokesman said had become aware of “unusual volume of public activity at some ATMs across the country.”
Between 8pm and midnight, gardaí received more than 40 calls across its four Regional Garda Control Rooms from members of the public concerned about crowds gathering around ATMs. It also received a small number of calls relating to public order incidents and one call relating to an assault and robbery, the spokesman said.
He said the events of Tuesday night “involved a complicated set of circumstances involving large sums of cash in circulation, in some instances large crowds and queues gathering and a developing and escalating situation.
“In response to this dynamic and evolving situation and to ensure public safety, decisions were made locally on a case-by-case basis depending on the circumstances presenting to control rooms and operational members.
“This is the reality of day to day operational policing.”
The Irish Times understands there was no garda presence at many ATMs nationally. In some cases where gardaí were deployed, they blocked access to ATMs using their own discretion amid concerns about public order. No national order was given to stop people withdrawing money.
In some locations, gardaí simply observed the queues to monitor for public order matters while in others queues were dispersed.
“Images on social media made the garda response look much more widespread that it actually was,” said one senior officer.
Garda Headquarters did not respond to questions on if it was asked by Bank of Ireland to intervene. The bank has said it was in touch with the Garda but that it did not request that units be stationed at ATMs.
It is understood a small number of public order incidents were reported on Tuesday night, including scuffles outside an ATM in Navan, Co Meath and a fight in Limerick City.
The seemingly rapid deployment of gardaí to some ATMs has drawn significant criticism on social media and from some politicians. “There is something unnerving about the Gardaí being involved in protecting BOI ATMs last night,” Labour justice spokesman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said on Wednesday morning.
“I think there are serious questions to be answered by An Garda Síochána here and I think we need to have questions answered by Commissioner Drew Harris,” said People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy
“They have suggested these were local decisions made on the basis of public order concerns but lots of the pictures and videos circulating on social media have gardaí standing in front of and effectively blocking access to ATMs with nobody at them,” he told The Irish Times.
“Whatever argument that can be made about public order concerns about large queues forming, it certainly seems that, in at least some cases, the role of the gardaí was to effectively shut down access to ATMs. That looks to me as acting as private security for Bank of Ireland, effectively trying to protect them from a mistake that Bank of Ireland made, as opposed to a real response to public order concerns.”
