Minister rules out Tasers or firearms for gardaí facing violence

Minister for Justice Simon Harris has ruled out arming gardaí with Tasers or firearms in response to increasing violence directed at members.

The Minister was speaking following an attack on gardaí in Ballyfermot, Dublin on Monday which resulted in one garda being hospitalised after being struck by a bottle.

On Tuesday evening, gardaí on patrol in neighbouring Kylemore encountered two men armed with a handgun.

“Additional Garda units soon arrived on the scene and the two men were arrested. Following a search of the area, a firearm and ammunition was subsequently retrieved by gardaí,” the Garda said in a statement.

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Garda representative organisations have complained that their members are facing increasing violence on a daily basis and have called on the Government to take action, including setting up a special taskforce to address the issue.

Mr Harris said he does not believe it is necessary for gardaí to be armed with firearms or Tasers but that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris keeps equipment needs “under review”.

He said the most practical thing that can be done to help gardaí is to recruit more members. The Government has committed to recruiting over 1,000 new members this year, although the last intake to the Garda College numbered only 136 earlier this month.

Mr Harris said he is also open to examining tougher sentences for those who assault frontline gardaí.

The provision of body cameras to frontline gardaí, which is expected to begin this year, will also help prevent attacks, he said. The Minister observed that in situations like Ballyfermot, gardaí often appear to be the only ones without cameras.

Mr Harris was speaking in Casement Aerodrome along with Tánaiste Micheál Martin at an event to announce the winner of Science Foundation Ireland-Defence Innovation Prize.

Starting in 2021, ten teams of researchers and soldiers competed to develop technological solutions to challenges faced by the Defence Forces.

The winning entry was from a team at Maynooth University which developed technology to help the Air Corps fight wildfires and direct rescue workers on the ground.

“The winning project uses earth observation and Artificial Intelligence technologies to develop a new system capable of providing real-time information to responders in the air and on the ground to allow them significantly enhance their decision-making and in turn improve the firefighting process,” Mr Martin said.

Such research is vital in light of increasing forest fires, including the blaze at Killarney National Park in 2021 which burned almost 5,000 acres.

The winning team received a €1 million grant to continue development of the technology.