UNIFORMED gardaí are to be equipped with tasers under a new pilot programme aimed at addressing the rise in violence against police officers.
The six-month initiative will see 128 gardaí at stations in Dublin city centre and Waterford armed with tasers, also known as conductive energy devices, while on patrol.
The designated areas include Kevin Street, Store Street and Pearse Street stations in Dublin, along with Waterford Garda Station.
The move comes after an increasingly high number of assaults on gardaí in recent years.
An average of about 300 officers have been attacked annually over the past decade, with a sharp rise recorded following the pandemic.
In 2023, assaults reached a record high of 470 before stabilising last year.
Acting Deputy Garda Commissioner Paul Cleary said the scheme is not about "changing the culture of Irish policing or arming gardaí" but about "preventing harm", according to RTÉ.
He described tasers as a controlled, less-lethal option to be used only when other approaches are ineffective or unsafe.
Tasers have only been available to specialist armed units, including the Emergency Response Unit and Armed Support Units, since 2007.
They are rarely used, averaging only a handful of discharges each month nationwide.
Garda management say frontline officers are increasingly required to deal with situations where individuals may be armed, intoxicated, severely distressed or experiencing mental-health crises.
While most incidents are resolved peacefully, some can escalate rapidly, forcing officers to make immediate decisions to protect the public and themselves.
Only specially trained gardaí will be permitted to carry tasers under the pilot.
Participants must complete a three-day training programme grounded in Irish constitutional law and European Convention on Human Rights principles.
The devices will be carried by officers in marked patrol cars equipped with body-worn cameras, and every use of a taser will be recorded and reported to Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents more than 11,000 rank-and-file members, has welcomed the decision.
Vice-president Niall Hodgins said the devices would provide officers with additional options in high-risk encounters and could help de-escalate situations without being discharged.
He described the pilot as a positive step for frontline safety, noting that hundreds of assaults on gardaí are deemed serious each year.
But civil liberties groups have expressed strong opposition.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) warned that introducing tasers to uniformed gardaí represents a big departure from Ireland’s long-standing tradition of unarmed policing.
ICCL executive director Joe O’Brien criticised the pace of the decision, saying the move lacked sufficient independent evidence and warning that pilot schemes often lead quickly to national rollouts without proper evaluation.
Garda authorities have insisted the programme will be rigorously assessed before any consideration is given to expanding taser use more widely within An Garda Síochána.
See More: An Garda Síochána, Gardai, Taser, Tasers
