Garda to get less-lethal weapons, to curb unnecessary use of firearms

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell is to authorise the use of less lethal weapons by the Garda Emergency Response Unit in a bid to avoid the unnecessary use of firearms.

This comes in the wake of the Abbeylara siege shooting in which a man emerged from a house in Co Longford with a loaded shotgun which he had earlier discharged; he was shot the Garda Emergency Response Unit.

The new weapons, which the Minister did not describe, will be available only to gardaí trained in their use.