Non-fatal weapons not available to gardai

BARR TRIBUNAL: Less lethal weapons, recommended for use by an internal Garda report in 2001 on foot of the Abbeylara siege, are still not available to gardaí, the head of the Garda Emergency Response Unit has told the Barr tribunal.

Three weapons, intended for use as an alternative to lethal firearms, were recommended by a Garda working group in October 2001. The group was established by the Garda Commissioner following the shooting dead of Mr John Carthy outside his home at Abbeylara, Co Longford by members of the ERU in April 2000.

No less lethal weapons nor non-fatal weapons were used during the Abbeylara siege. Stun grenades were the only such devices available to gardaí at the time, but these were not brought to the scene.

The Garda report recommended the use of "bean bag" shotgun cartridges, which are fabric pouches filled with lead shot, which conform to the shape of the object fired at, and are not intended to penetrate the body; CS and OC gas shotgun cartridges, and CS and OC gas grenades.

CS, commonly known as tear gas, or OC, known as pepper spray, are used in cartridges which break on impact and disseminate the gas, forcing the subject to vacate their position. A subsequent implementation group advised that the grenades be replaced by a close-range CS aerosol can.

The bean bags, gas cartridges and CS aerosol were approved for use by the Minister for Justice in November 2002. However none of these devices are currently used by the gardaí because of legal and ethical questions, Det Supt Patrick Hogan told the tribunal. "The legal consequences of gardaí using these weapons is being considered. There are ethical considerations surrounding the pre-emptive application of force . . . it is a completely new concept in this jurisdiction."

The bean bag device was "the nearest to being authorised for deployment", Det Supt Hogan said. Two ERU officers had been trained in its use in the US last December and the tender for supply to the Garda was complete.

It was envisaged that a five -day course for training ERU members to use bean bags would begin later this year, he said, but the aerosol and the gas cartridges were "still under consideration".