More than 120 uniform gardaí have been issued with tasers as part of a new pilot programme designed to respond to a sustained rise in violent assaults, particularly against members of An Garda Síochána.
The move comes amid stark figures showing that an average of almost 300 gardaí have been assaulted each year over the past decade. While assault numbers stabilised slightly last year, Garda data shows a sharp escalation following the Covid-19 pandemic, culminating in a record 470 assaults in 2023.
The tasers are being deployed to 128 gardaí operating from Kevin Street, Store Street and Pearse Street Garda stations in Dublin city centre, as well as Waterford Garda Station. The initiative is limited to a small number of specially trained officers and will be closely monitored before any decision is taken on a wider rollout.
Acting Deputy Garda Commissioner Paul Cleary said the programme is not about fundamentally altering Irish policing but about reducing the risk of serious harm. “This is not about changing the culture of Irish policing or arming gardaí,” he said. “It is about preventing harm.”
Tasers are classed as less-lethal force options, delivering an electrical current that temporarily disrupts muscle control, rendering a person unable to move or attack for a short period. While they are new to general uniform policing, armed regional and national units — including the Emergency Response Unit — have carried tasers since 2007, with an average deployment rate of around twice per month over the past five years.
Gardaí say frontline officers are dealing with fast-moving and unpredictable situations, particularly incidents involving weapons, intoxication, acute distress or severe mental-health crises. While most encounters are resolved calmly, Garda leadership says officers sometimes have to make split-second decisions to protect the public, the individual involved and themselves.
Only gardaí who have completed a three-day training programme, grounded in Irish constitutional law and the European Convention on Human Rights, will be authorised to carry tasers. They will operate in marked patrol cars, wear body-worn cameras, and every taser deployment will be formally recorded.
Crucially, Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, will be notified every time a taser is used, adding an additional layer of independent oversight.
The initiative has drawn strong criticism from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which warned this could fundamentally alter the relationship between gardaí and communities. ICCL Executive Director Joe O’Brien said Ireland has “a proud tradition of over 100 years of unarmed gardaí serving and supporting local communities,” adding that “giving tasers to frontline gardaí is a complete step change from that tradition.”
The council also argued international evidence suggests tasers are not always effective as de-escalation tools and can, in some cases, escalate encounters involving people in mental-health crisis.
However, Garda management has rejected those concerns, maintaining that the pilot is tightly controlled and intended solely as a last-resort option when other methods have failed or are unsafe. The scheme will be subject to rigorous evaluation before any expansion is considered.
