Organisations representing Garda members have called on the Government to provide more resources to help tackle dangerous driving, including pursuit training, following the M9 motorway crash.
Five teenage boys, who were travelling in a BMW in the wrong direction on the M9 motorway near Moone, Co Kildare, were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning when their car collided head-on with another car.
Three women and a child in the other car remain in hospital with serious injuries.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said on Monday gardaí will be given “whatever resources” are required, including pursuit training.
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He said efforts were under way to prepare legislation to strengthen protections for gardaí involved in pursuits by the Department of Transport, noting that the Garda Commissioner had confirmed training would be introduced this year.
However, the deputy general secretary of the AGSI, Kevin Bolger, told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland tangible actions were not being seen despite promises about issues such as pursuit training.
Assurances had been given earlier this year about pursuit training, and yet “here we are in the midst of another tragedy where the promises are still coming, we’re not seeing any tangible actions,” he said.
“There needs to be an expedited response to this because things aren’t getting better and this was flagged at the time that these robust responses needed to come quick and because we have members in control rooms, particularly we have sergeants and inspectors in control rooms who are in control of all these vehicles and they have to make decisions while pursuits are ongoing which it goes against every grain of their being as a police person to stand down members from a pursuit.”
The first step should be to properly resource existing roads policing units that have been depleted and under-resourced, he said. “Resource them, fully train them, equip and protect them, they will start from the ground up of making the road safer because they will engage strongly on a permanent basis with all road users okay and try to change behaviours.”
[ Gardaí to receive pursuit training for the first time in aftermath of M9 crashOpens in new window ]
Meanwhile, Declan Higgins, the president of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), warned recent Garda recruitment campaigns are “not coming fast enough” to tackle the issue.
“We don’t have enough gardaí on the ground. When we see road deaths rising at the rate they have been over the last couple of years, we see horrific instances like this,” he told Newstalk Breakfast with Anton Savage in response to a question about the M9 crash.
“This isn’t the first time. I mean, if people remember back to 2021, on the M7, there was a similar incident where three young men were killed. And so this has been going on quite a long while these kind of horrific instances.”
At the same time there had been a decrease in Garda Traffic Corps numbers, he added. The lack of response was worrying, he said. Not only were garda numbers down, but equipment and resources were also down.
The prosecution of gardaí for their actions during the pursuit of suspects has “a huge morale impact” on members of the force, said Higgins.
“There’s 10 members of An Garda Síochána, I believe, at the moment before the courts facing prosecution.
“And the lack of training for those members and the lack of support and the lack of backing from both Government and from Garda management for these gardaí out doing their job is of serious concern,” he said.
“They do not feel the confidence any more. They’re not being properly supported, they’re not being properly protected to do their jobs.”
Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Midwest, Shane Moynihan, who is deputy chair of the Oireachtas Transport Committee and party spokesman on transport, speaking on Newstalk, acknowledged the need to increase garda visibility on roads.
Pursuit training was another issue he supported and was now in a position to commence such training. Every garda was now required to undertake roads policing as part of their general work, he said.
Moynihan said there was another question around values and why it was acceptable for young men and individuals to believe such behaviour was acceptable.
“That requires a conversation for us as a society, both in terms of political discussion, but also in terms of how we engage with the likes of social media companies about why this sort of behaviour has been glorified in some instances, why it’s been lionised and why it’s been kind of celebrated”.
David Staunton, a barrister specialising in road traffic legislation, has said there are “certain legislative tweaks” that could be made which would allow the gardaí to have certain immunities in certain situations such as “the legitimate pursuit” of people suspected of crimes.
He spoke on RTÉ Radio’s Today show with regard to a promise by the Minister for Justice that legislation was being prepared to strengthen garda protections “when it comes to pursuit.”
“However, there are certain legislative tweaks that could be made which does allow for the gardaí to have certain immunities in certain situations.
“But also at the moment, unfortunately, which is something I think does need to be looked at, gardaí can be prosecuted for dangerous driving in certain instances where they are pursuing.”
Staunton added that one thing that could be considered would be amending the legislation concerning dangerous driving.
The teenagers in the BMW were wearing balaclavas, or were otherwise masked, when they died on the M9. The deceased were aligned to a large group known to gardaí around the Carlow-Kildare region.
Gardaí in a patrol car had earlier requested the vehicle to stop at about 2am in Athy, but the driver sped off.
It is understood gardaí were not pursuing the BMW at the time of the crash. Gardaí believe it was driven on to the wrong side of the M9 because the driver was trying to evade gardaí, and probably knew Garda patrol cars would not be allowed to pursue them if driving against traffic.
[ Five teenagers killed in M9 wrong-way crash are named locallyOpens in new window ]
