Resources and reform are what the gardaí need — not stun guns

MORE aggressive policing? Did I understand that right? Reading my Irish Examiner yesterday, it was revealed that the gardaí, apparently with the support of Fine Gael, want stun guns to deal with “violent protests and public disorder”. These stun guns, it seems, are capable of causing temporary paralysis with a 50,000 volt electric shock.

(Amnesty International reports that a number of governments routinely use stun weapons to extract confessions from political prisoners. These governments know that electrical torture leaves less evidence than many other methods. The shock from a stun gun is extremely painful, but it doesn't leave an obvious wound. But there's no need to go into that, I imagine. Sure we'd never abuse a weapon like that, would we?)

To come back to the point. More aggressive policing where, out of the wide blue yonder, did that demand come from? As you read the story, you realise that someone in the gardaí is predicting that next year, when Ireland holds the EU presidency, someone somewhere might be tempted to mount a violent protest.