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Sunday World
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Sunday World
Garda body says fewer officers are trained in public order than before Dublin riots
'We actually have fewer Gardaí trained now than we had on the day of the Dublin riots' Workers clean up after the Dublin riots in 2023 The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has issued a stark warning over the force's preparedness in the event of a repeat of the 'Dublin riots'. At the annual conference in Killarney last week, delegates revealed there are fewer officers trained in 'public order' tactics in the Dublin Metropolitan Region today than on the night hundreds of thugs caused mayhem in the capital city in 2023. In an interview with the Sunday World, Public Order Instructor and delegate for the DMR East, Dave Lestrange revealed how there were 534 gardai trained and certified in public order in the Dublin Metropolitan Region on November 23, 2023 as opposed to just 513 today. And he warned that cutbacks in the number of public order training days, as well as a lack of a purpose-built public order training facility, will impact the effectiveness of the response of gardai to such an event in the future. 'The Minister [of Justice] came out recently and said from the information that he had received that we have 700 members trained in the DMR,' he said. 'That's not correct. 'We actually have fewer members trained now than we had on the day of the Dublin riots in public order policing. Workers clean up after the Dublin riots in 2023 'In the DMR at the time of the riots, there were 534 officers training and certified in public order. 'In 2024, we trained an additional 160 officers. 'But after losing people in the re-certs, we are down to 513 members.' On a day of infamy in Dublin on November 23, 2023, multiple incidents of vandalism, arson and looting took place in the city centre involving at its height as many as 500 people. The riot was triggered by the stabbing of a young child and a care assistant outside a primary school in Parnell Square East, Dublin. Asked this week whether gardai are better trained and equipped to respond to such rioting today, Garda Lestrange responded: 'Well, we have less members [trained in public order techniques] than we did back then. Gardai face rioters on Parnell Street in 2023 News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, May 6th Mr Lestrange also criticised a new policy in place concerning the number of training days that are now being provided to officers. 'Every member that is trained in public order completed a six day course and if they are successful they are a member of the public order unit. 'They were to recertify annually and this consisted of a fitness test followed by a three day re-cert, which would include a scenario. 'A new policy has just come in, and it's currently being introduced, where it's cutting the training. 'We've done research on other police forces and they have to do five and sometimes more days of training a year. 'It's due to the tactics involved and these are perishable skills, so it needs to be consistent every year. 'The new policy here will cut the number of days our officers receive. Public Order instructor Dave Lestrange talks to our reporter 'There will be a three-day re-cert but this will include the fitness test on the morning of the first day which cuts the three-day course because the fitness course takes half a day – so our officers will only get two-and-a-half-days. 'And then every alternative year it will be one day of scenario-based training. 'We don't believe that's sufficient,' he added. 'We believe it should be a minimum two-day scenario-based training course. 'This is because if members are taking part in a scenario, we have to be able to identify the mistakes and correct these mistakes. 'The one-day scenario that is being introduced does not give us the opportunity to do this. 'You will have members that management will say have been re-certed but they have not been properly trained. 'The scenario-based training is good because it's practical and based on real life scenarios but to do one day of scenario-based training every second year is not acceptable. It's for the members as well. They are going out in the streets. 'And you see more and more of these things happening.' Garda Lestrange also called for the construction of a new purpose-built training facility for the public order unit. 'We need a full-time tactical area that not only the public order unit can use for training but also the armed support unit (ASU) can use. 'And at the moment we don't have that. 'We train in Gormanstown army barracks and that's an active training barracks for the army so the facilities available to us aren't great. 'There's very little facilities available to us there. 'What we need is a purpose built training facility for all public order and tactical training.' In a response, Garda HQ said: 'In relation to Public Order policing in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR), preparations are currently under way to identify, train and equip additional personnel to augment the Garda National Public Order Unit (GNPOU) operating within the DMR.' The statement said there are 1,500 trained public order gardaí nationally while spending on public order equipment increased by 152 per cent since 2023: It said this money was spent on general frontline equipment including safety helmets, higher-strength incapacitant spray, shields and new body armour. It said nine bespoke Public Order vans have been purchased, bringing to a total 35 public order vans in the Garda fleet, in addition to two water cannons. The statement added that public order tactics have been enhanced to allow for use of these additional resources.
Sunday World
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Sunday World
Garda association issue serious warning in the event of another Dublin riots
'We actually have fewer Gardaí trained now than we had on the day of the Dublin riots' Workers clean up after the Dublin riots in 2023 The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has issued a stark warning over the force's preparedness in the event of a repeat of the 'Dublin riots'. At the annual conference in Killarney last week, delegates revealed there are fewer officers trained in 'public order' tactics in the Dublin Metropolitan Region today than on the night hundreds of thugs caused mayhem in the capital city in 2023. In an interview with the Sunday World, Public Order Instructor and delegate for the DMR East, Dave Lestrange revealed how there were 534 gardai trained and certified in public order in the Dublin Metropolitan Region on November 23, 2023 as opposed to just 513 today. And he warned that cutbacks in the number of public order training days, as well as a lack of a purpose-built public order training facility, will impact the effectiveness of the response of gardai to such an event in the future. 'The Minister [of Justice] came out recently and said from the information that he had received that we have 700 members trained in the DMR,' he said. 'That's not correct. 'We actually have fewer members trained now than we had on the day of the Dublin riots in public order policing. Workers clean up after the Dublin riots in 2023 'In the DMR at the time of the riots, there were 534 officers training and certified in public order. 'In 2024, we trained an additional 160 officers. 'But after losing people in the re-certs, we are down to 513 members.' On a day of infamy in Dublin on November 23, 2023, multiple incidents of vandalism, arson and looting took place in the city centre involving at its height as many as 500 people. The riot was triggered by the stabbing of a young child and a care assistant outside a primary school in Parnell Square East, Dublin. Asked this week whether gardai are better trained and equipped to respond to such rioting today, Garda Lestrange responded: 'Well, we have less members [trained in public order techniques] than we did back then. Gardai face rioters on Parnell Street in 2023 News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, May 6th Mr Lestrange also criticised a new policy in place concerning the number of training days that are now being provided to officers. 'Every member that is trained in public order completed a six day course and if they are successful they are a member of the public order unit. 'They were to recertify annually and this consisted of a fitness test followed by a three day re-cert, which would include a scenario. 'A new policy has just come in, and it's currently being introduced, where it's cutting the training. 'We've done research on other police forces and they have to do five and sometimes more days of training a year. 'It's due to the tactics involved and these are perishable skills, so it needs to be consistent every year. 'The new policy here will cut the number of days our officers receive. Public Order instructor Dave Lestrange talks to our reporter 'There will be a three-day re-cert but this will include the fitness test on the morning of the first day which cuts the three-day course because the fitness course takes half a day – so our officers will only get two-and-a-half-days. 'And then every alternative year it will be one day of scenario-based training. 'We don't believe that's sufficient,' he added. 'We believe it should be a minimum two-day scenario-based training course. 'This is because if members are taking part in a scenario, we have to be able to identify the mistakes and correct these mistakes. 'The one-day scenario that is being introduced does not give us the opportunity to do this. 'You will have members that management will say have been re-certed but they have not been properly trained. 'The scenario-based training is good because it's practical and based on real life scenarios but to do one day of scenario-based training every second year is not acceptable. It's for the members as well. They are going out in the streets. 'And you see more and more of these things happening.' Garda Lestrange also called for the construction of a new purpose-built training facility for the public order unit. 'We need a full-time tactical area that not only the public order unit can use for training but also the armed support unit (ASU) can use. 'And at the moment we don't have that. 'We train in Gormanstown army barracks and that's an active training barracks for the army so the facilities available to us aren't great. 'There's very little facilities available to us there. 'What we need is a purpose built training facility for all public order and tactical training.' In a response, Garda HQ said: 'In relation to Public Order policing in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR), preparations are currently under way to identify, train and equip additional personnel to augment the Garda National Public Order Unit (GNPOU) operating within the DMR.' The statement said there are 1,500 trained public order gardaí nationally while spending on public order equipment increased by 152 per cent since 2023: It said this money was spent on general frontline equipment including safety helmets, higher-strength incapacitant spray, shields and new body armour. It said nine bespoke Public Order vans have been purchased, bringing to a total 35 public order vans in the Garda fleet, in addition to two water cannons. The statement added that public order tactics have been enhanced to allow for use of these additional resources.
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Police 'sent to stop bus after passenger refused to put packet of cheese and onion crisps away'
Police in Ireland were reportedly sent to stop a bus after a passenger refused to put away a packet of cheese and onion crisps. A woman on board the bus in Galway put a call in to the cops to complain about the smell of the crisps, according to the Irish Mirror. She was reportedly left furious that another passenger was eating the snack on the bus and refused to put them away. The passenger then bizarrely rang the police before the call taker directed two members of the force to go and investigate. But the officers refused. 'The garda who took the call was directed to stop the bus and board it, but he refused as he did not believe it was a criminal matter,' a source said, as per Dublin Live. The incident came during the week of the annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, of the 11,200-strong Garda Representative Association. The association, which represents members of the force, heard claims that police are being sent to pointless calls – because of fears there would be complaints if they did not attend. The conference heard that along with the crisp incident, officers had also recently been sent out to deal with a suicidal dog and a bird's nest. Garda Dan Ryan, who represents officers in Carlow, said: 'Currently, there's no triage policy with the Control Room. 'We recently got dispatched to a call where a person rang in believing that her dog was suffering from mental health problems and was going to take his own life. 'Yet this was sent to us to deal with given the current policy that it's a call for service. We have to go to everything'. He explained that officers had to go and speak to the owner and voiced concerns around members of the police force being taken out of action to deal with calls of this nature. 'You would receive calls like this quite occasionally, not specifically about suicidal dogs, but like kind of silly calls like those. 'There was another one there recently in south Kerry where someone rang in because there was a pheasant hanging around in a pub car park. 'It's a wild bird. What are we supposed to do there?, he asked.' And Garda Peter Firth, from Waterford, also told the conference that there was a fear of cancelling such calls because personnel in control rooms were worried they would be disciplined. He said: 'People are very slow to cancel calls because gardaí are worried that a member of the public might complain or that someone in management might perceive a call that we didn't attend as one we should have. 'Again it's a fear of discipline'. Firth said the force are receiving calls around events which are not policing matters such as a birds nest in someone's house. 'A couple of lads in the southeast were sent because a neighbour called and said she was concerned about young birds' nest in someone's house and that they might not have been able to get out because the people were on holidays. 'Because we're not declining those calls, the requests become more acceptable over time, it becomes its own monster. 'The members in the control room have to make the decision and they have no faith in the policy that they won't be disciplined. 'There's a knock-on effect to that as well,' he said. The police said in response to queries about such calls that the force had introduced a new computer-aided dispatch system known as GardaSAFE in 2023. The force said in a statement: 'This new system enhances and improves our response and allows more efficient use of our resources thereby ensuring that the public receive the best possible response. 'GardaSAFE sees all calls requiring the dispatch of a Garda resource handled by a number of regionally located control centres. 'These control centres are staffed by trained call takers and call dispatchers. 'Community policing is the provision of a policing service to the whole community both urban and rural through a partnership based, proactive, problem solving style of policing. 'It is focused on community engagement, crime prevention and law enforcement and addresses crime and policing quality of life issues affecting communities.'
The Journal
06-05-2025
- The Journal
Man arrested after van driven at garda causing serious injuries in Ardee last week
A MAN HAS been arrested in connection with an investigation into a van being driven at a garda causing serious injuries last week. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning of 2 May in Clonmore Estate in Ardee, Co Louth when gardaí approached a parked van. Advertisement The van is understood to have been driven at the gardaí, injuring one who had exited their patrol vehicle to investigate. He sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The arrested man, aged in his 40s, is currently detained at a garda station in the Eastern region, gardaí said. Gardaí are continuing to appeal for witnesses to come forward. Mark O'Meara, President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) described the incident last week as 'extremely serious and concerning'. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Daily Mirror
04-05-2025
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dog unit Garda demand better facilities for themselves and canine colleagues
Gardaí in the force's national dog unit are demanding better facilities – for themselves and their canine colleagues. The officers – who team up with their dogs to provide vital back up to Gardaí all over the country – are based in part of Kilmainham Station in south central Dublin, but they say their conditions are just not good enough. Garda Alan Cummins, one of the officers in the highly trained teams, spoke to the Sunday Mirror of their frustration when he attended the annual conference of force's biggest union earlier this week. Speaking at the conference of the 11,200-strong Garda Representative Association in Killarney, Co Kerry, he said: 'They're frustrated. Every time we've been requested to stand up and be counted, we've been there. 'We've been there at the Dublin riots; millions of euros worth of drugs recovered; firearms; VIP visits; missing persons located; violent criminals apprehended. All of that was as a direct result of the actions of our dogs and our handlers.' But he said the unit's conditions are not good enough. He said: 'At start of a shift, members are coming in. They're parking in an area that's completely inadequate for multiple reasons – a former building site that's left unfinished. 'We have our main area for changing and storage is a portacabin in the public car park at the station, which is 20 years old, practically falling down. 'And I could be deployed at any time. I could be on searches where I come [back to the station] and I am covered head to toe in God knows what. 'As a male member of the unit, I'm forced to change in a converted shed in the car park of the station. It's not much better if you're female. Female shower facilities for members of the dog unit physically backs onto the kennels.' Gardaí on the unit keep the dogs in special kennels at their own homes, but have more basic facilities to keep the animals in the station when they are working there – and they need improving, he said. He said: 'The kennels themselves are over 20 years since they had been upgraded or fixed up.' And he was backed in his calls by Detective Garda Niall Hodgins, GRA vice president, who visited the unit. He said: 'I'm very passionate about the dogs, and am a supporter. 'The conditions that I saw that the handlers and their canine partners – and remember these are not animals, these are their partners in the job – the conditions that they have at their kennelling are atrocious.' The Irish Mirror asked the Garda press office for comment.
