When news emerged on Tuesday that a computer glitch was allowing customers to transfer €1,000 from Bank of Ireland accounts, even if they were broke, and then withdraw cash, it spread like wildfire on social media and messaging apps.
The subsequent images and videos of gardaí blocking ATMs and dispersing queues spread nearly as fast and led to numerous allegations that members of the force were acting like private security for the bank amid the blunder.
For An Garda Síochána, the impression could hardly have been worse. The incident came after various reports of tourists being assaulted in Dublin and a growing perception that the city centre is becoming a no-go area due to the lack of a significant police presence.
The narrative was that gardaí were much quicker to protect the property of banks than the safety of ordinary people. Among the many jibes was a post by a comedy Twitter account about a tourist visiting Dublin and deciding to dress as an ATM so as to secure some Garda protection.
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“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,” said People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy. “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.”
But, as usual, social media offered only part of the story. Rather than guarding every ATM to stop people taking out money, decisions to deploy gardaí were taken at a local level and on a case-by-case basis.
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Where they were deployed, gardaí mainly monitored for breaches of public order, although in some cases queues of people were also dispersed. At many ATMs, there was no Garda presence at all.
In the few instances where gardaí did block ATMs, it appears they did so using their own discretion rather than on foot of a nationwide order. The perception that gardaí were working as bank security was not helped by official communications from Garda HQ
The initial Garda statement, issued on Tuesday night, did not address the presence of gardaí at ATMs but cryptically warned that “An Garda Síochána remind people of their personal responsibility in carrying out their personal banking”.
A statement the following morning offered a little more detail, stating that decisions to deploy gardaí were based solely on concerns for public order and public safety.
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It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that Garda HQ explained units were deployed based on dozens of complaints from concerned citizens, reports of disorder and, in one case, an assault and robbery.
“The fact that people were exploiting a bank glitch to withdraw money wasn’t really a concern, although if there was widespread fraud it may become a Garda investigation down the line,” said one senior officer. “The concern was fights breaking out in queues and people being mugged.”
The events of Tuesday night were “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”, said a Garda spokesman.
It appears the controversy will be short-lived. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and his senior officers are reportedly satisfied with the response, as is the Government. More importantly, sources say the members of the Policing Authority are not particularly exercised over the matter and mainly view the Garda response as proportionate.