Gardaí yet to receive tasers promised after Dublin riots 

A double decker bus and a car alight on the edge of O'Connell Bridge, as hundreds of people rioted in Dublin City Centre in November. 

Taser equipment has yet to be rolled out to Garda public order units despite a vow by Commissioner Drew Harris in the wake of the Dublin riots, An Garda Síochána has said.

The delay comes as Justice Minister Helen McEntee revealed that €1.1m was spent last year on upgrading taser equipment, while a further €123,000 has been spent on tasers so far this year.

A spokesman confirmed to the Irish Examiner that the proposal to provide 200 tasers for deployment to the public order unit is “at an advanced stage”.

In his announcement on November 29, the commissioner said the expansion of the public order unit’s capability with the provision of an “initial 200 tasers” was subject to training.

Use of tasers is currently confined to members of the emergency response unit and armed response units, as well as members of the special detective unit.

However, following the Dublin riots last November, Mr Harris committed to rolling out the devices to public order units.

Gardaí are continuing to investigate the riots in the city centre on the evening of November 23, which included the burning of a Luas tram and missiles being thrown at gardaí.

In recent days, a 38th person was arrested as part of the Garda investigation into the riots.

The rioting 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.

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 organisation’s annual conference that frontline members still do not have equipment to deal with such a situation.

According to most recent statistics, tasers have been used approximately 30 times in the year up to last September.

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.

In December 2020, George Nkencho, aged 27, was fatally shot by members of the armed support unit outside his home in Dublin after attempts to earlier subdue him with taser equipment and an incapacitant spray failed.