Adolescent (14) one of the five children placed in spit by gardaí

At least 14 percent of the spit displays made by gardaí since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have involved people with obvious mental illnesses.

And a hood was used to spit on at least one person with an obvious learning disability and five children, including one who was 14 years old.

Spitting hoods, or spitting guards, as the Garda calls them, are wire and cloth devices that are forcibly placed on the heads of suspects to prevent them from deliberately spitting or coughing on gardaí.

Its use has been criticized by various human rights bodies and the Police Authority, which has said they should be discontinued as soon as possible.

According to data published in The Irish Times, the Police Authority has received detailed reports on 99 incidents of spittoon use. This is out of 104 recorded incidents of their use since March when they were introduced.

Shortly after his presentation, the Police Authority began asking gardaí to record the use of spit under a series of headings, even if the suspects had learning disabilities, were intoxicated or had a mental illness.

Mental health problem

In 14 incidents, “the Garda member perceived that the detainee had obvious signs of a mental health problem,” said the Police Authority. In reality, this figure is likely to be significantly higher, since in 30 incidents the mental state of the suspects was not specified by the informant garda. In 51 incidents, the suspect had no discernible mental illness.

In one incident, Gardaí used a hood to spit on a suspect with “obvious signs of a learning disability.” Again, this figure may be significantly higher, as in 31 Gardaí incidents it did not provide enough details.