The Strong Arm of The Law

Grainne Walsh will never forget the men who assaulted her. She often sees them walking the streets of Dublin — in their police uniforms. Although the Irish government paid some €50,000 in compensation to the young fashion designer, the officers who assaulted her were never disciplined. Only scant details of other such incidents are ever published. But according to Father Peter McVerry, a Jesuit priest and activist who tracks the cases, in the past five years police have paid out more than €6 million to settle cases involving questionable conduct of the police, or gardaí. And last week, a report by...