Tactical vehicle containment training 'key' to halting wrong way driving, says GRA representative

The deputy general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), James Morrisroe has said "the key" to combatting wrong way driving incidents is tactical vehicle containment training, as pursuit training will not commence until 2027. File photo. 

The deputy general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), James Morrisroe has said "the key" to combatting wrong way driving incidents is tactical vehicle containment training, as pursuit training will not commence until 2027.

Following several recent incidents of wrong way driving, particularly on motorways, members of An Garda Síochána have highlighted a resourcing deficit when it comes to advanced training.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Morrisroe said there is "a lack of resources to train members, so we have to fight fire with fire".

Deputy general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), James Morrisroe (left) pictured with the then GRA president Brendan O’Connor at the GRA 46th annual delegates conference in 2024. Picture: Conor Ó Mearáin

"I'm told by the commissioner that the trainers, the people who will be training our members, are gone for training themselves in England," said Mr Morrisroe.

"They will be coming back and they will start training our members in the new year.

"It's going to be a long process, not weeks or months. It will be a year's process.

"If you look at who we have trained at the minute, we have junior members who are just driving on an assessment, they're not even trained to turn on the blue lights and sirens," he added.

"We also [only] have a number of members who are trained in Competency Based Driving Level 2 (CBD2) driving, where they go for a two-week course down to Templemore, where they are trained in proper driving but still cannot pursue."

Mr Morrisroe said looking at any instance of wrong way driving recently highlighted in the media, where a tactical vehicle containment has taken place to halt these vehicles, "there's only very few specialist members trained in that".

"The three most important things here are training, training, training," he said.

"A lot of these incidents actually come to an end quite successfully and that's down to the professionalism and the bravery of our frontline members, because when they go out on duty, their number one priority is the protection of the public.

"But, they're intercepting members without the proper training.

"Tactical vehicle containment, that's the key to this.

"[We must] train our members to stop the vehicles before they get onto the motorways."