Pressure grows to arm entire Garda Síochána

A SENIOR official representing our 11,000 rank and file gardaí has said that Ireland may have to look seriously at arming its entire police force.

Garda Representative Association (GRA) deputy general secretary John Healy said it was “with great regret” that the authorities may now have to consider the routine arming of uniformed gardaí.

This, he said, had to be in response to the reality of a modern Ireland where new breeds of gangsters involved in the lucrative drugs and arms trade had no respect for human life.