Garda cars being rammed weekly

Tough penalties for people who deliberately ram garda vehicles are being considered by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald as figures show cars are now being purposely crashed into on a weekly basis.

Ms Fitzgerald is examining proposals from a Fine Gael TD to jail offenders for a minimum 10 years who smash into garda cars.

The bill by Kerry Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin comes as the force this week unveiled the first cars from a new batch of 370 for gardaí.