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.

However, Mr Griffin says that garda vehicles are being rammed up to three times every fortnight.

During a Dáil debate this week, he pressed Ms Fitzgerald to create a specific offence for drivers who purposely smash into garda cars. Currently, the law only punishes assaults to peacekeepers or gardaí, not specific driving offences.

“Would the minister agree it would be advantageous to create a specific offence of deliberately ramming a garda vehicle and applying a serious custodial sentence?” he asked.

Mr Griffin has drawn up a bill which, if implemented, would see ramming offenders jailed for 10 years.

“These incidents are serious and we need to prevent further injury to gardaí, before they are killed,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Ms Fitzgerald says that the Law Reform Commission has recommended that no further mandatory sentences should be introduced.

However, she has said she will consider the tough penalties for offenders who crash into garda cars.

Figures show that 66 garda vehicles were rammed in 2010, 55 in 2011, 61 in 2012, and 63 in 2012.

Mr Griffin wants his legislative proposals included in the next garda bill.

The comments come after the minister and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan this week unveiled the first cars from a batch of 370 new vehicles. Up to €10m was provided for the new vehicles in the recent budget.