Gun crime – Don’t turn gardaí into armed force

Within the short span of 24 hours, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has executed a quick, and judicious, U-turn on his rumblings about the unarmed status of the gardaí.

His alarming inference that our police force might become an armed one, because of the increase in gun crime, was a prospect that would certainly not be entertained by the general public, and probably not welcomed by the gardaí themselves. The fact that a murder took place in broad daylight outside Cloverhill Prison, illustrates the need tackle the illegal firearm problem, which is worrying, but adds nothing whatsoever to any argument about arming the gardaí.

His comments came in the context of the latest crime figures which show that while the incidence of serious crime like murder, serious assaults and sexual assaults, has fallen this year, the numbers of shootings, rapes and burglaries have sharply risen.