€1.1m spent on taser 'stun-guns' for An Garda Síochána

A taser is a handheld device used to temporarily incapacitate someone by transmitting an electric shock. Stock picture

More than €1m has been spent on upgrading taser equipment for An Garda Síochána in the past year.

Figures released by the Department of Justice showed that €1.1m was spent last year on upgrading the equipment while a further €123,000 has been spent so far this year.

The rollout of the upgrade follows a review of the force’s taser equipment.

A taser is a handheld device which is used to temporarily incapacitate someone, by transmitting an electric shock. It has the capacity to fire a distance of up to 11 metres.

Taser use statistics

According to statistics in relation to the use of force by gardaí, tasers have been used approximately 30 times in the year up to last September. Last July, for example, the equipment was used on seven occasions.

In May last year, the equipment was used five times — including in one incident in Limerick City to which gardaí were called when a woman was reported to be acting in a threatening and erratic manner in a domestic incident.

The woman was subsequently arrested “following an intervention by the Armed Support Unit, including the deployment of a Taser”, according to gardaí.

Death of George Nkencho

In December 2020, George Nkencho was fatally shot outside his home in Dublin after attempts to subdue him with taser equipment and an incapacitant spray had failed.

Use of the equipment was previously confined to members of the Emergency Response Unit and Armed Response Units.

Tasers rolled out to more gardaí  

However, following the Dublin riots last November, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris committed to rolling out use of the equipment to public order units.

In recent days, a 38th person was arrested as part of the garda investigation into the riots in Dublin city centre on November 23. It occurred after a five-year-old girl was seriously injured in a stabbing on Parnell Square earlier that day. She is still recovering in hospital.

A creche worker and two other young children were less seriously injured in the attack which occurred outside a local gaelscoil.

Last month, the Garda Representative Association heard calls for riot training for all gardaí, as well as better equipment, including helmets and foot protection.

Officers told the conference that frontline gardaí still do not have public order training or equipment to deal with a situation similar to the Dublin riots.