Garda orders 20,000 units of double-strength pepper spray for frontline officers after Dublin riots

Gardaí patrolling the streets will have double-strength pepper spray very early in the new year after 20,000 units of the substance was ordered by Garda headquarters.

It will mean frontline uniform gardaí will now be armed with incapacitant sprays as strong as those previously only supplied to the Garda’s specialist armed units, as a ‘less than lethal’ alternative to using firearms.

The stronger incapacitant spray was just one new measure Garda Commissioner Drew Harris promised in the aftermath of the Dublin riots on November 23rd. Those disturbances were sparked by the far right, with hundreds of opportunists and looters also joining the violence and clashing with gardaí.

Mr Harris is due to appear before a public meeting of the Policing Authority on Tuesday in Dublin to speak about the Garda’s approach to public order policing in the face of an increased threat from small numbers of far-right agitators.

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The stronger sprays, which are scheduled to be delivered before the end of next month, were one measure promised by Mr Harris immediately after the riots, along with supplying stun guns to more gardaí.

The Garda has already secured two water cannon from the PSNI, though they have not be deployed since they were delivered almost four weeks ago.

Mr Harris in November outlined a range of measures to bolster public order policing during an appearance in front of the Oireachtas justice committee in the days after the rioting.

The committee heard the measures include arming public order gardaí with tasers, a less-than-lethal weapon that is currently only issued to specialist armed units. Initially 200 tasers will be procured.

There are plans to increase the numbers trained in riot control from the current 1,000.

Rioters set buses and Garda vehicles on fire, clashed with police and looted shops on Thursday, November 23rd. It followed anti-immigrant protests after three children and a care worker were stabbed outside a school. The suspect is a naturalised Irish citizen, originally from Algeria and a resident of Ireland for 20 years.

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