The Garda watchdog has received 16 complaints relating to Covid-19 and the policing of restrictions designed to curb the spread of the virus in Donegal.
Overall the body has received a total of 228 complaints across the country.
Since the Government first announced restrictions limiting people’s movement on March 27th, gardaí have had a large role in policing the measures.
New figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 228 complaints have now been made to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) with Covid-19 mentioned as a factor.
Jim Mulligan, the president of the Garda Representative Association, said the figures are not high considering their context.
“We’re into our sixth month, heading for our seventh month now of varying degrees of lockdown and I suppose the first couple of months of it was complete lockdown,” he said.
“For 228 complaints, it’s probably quite low considering the context of the policing operation that went on and is going on during it all. I mean, our interaction with the public has been hugely expanded as a result of this and with the checkpoints that have taken place.”
Almost 40% or 90 of the complaints made were in relation to roads policing.
A further 22 complaints related to public order, while 14 were made about arrests.
