One of three gardaí injured in the weekend incident in which two Dublin youths forced their squad car off the road near Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, underwent surgery yesterday for serious leg injuries.
Garda Paul Martin, single and in his early 20s, is understood to have had his leg broken in two places when his car was forced off the Kinnegad to Mullingar Road at 3.40 a.m. yesterday.
Garda Martin and a colleague, Garda Brendan Hogan, who is married with a family, were trapped in the squad car for almost 2½ hours. They were freed by the Mullingar Fire Brigade with the assistance of paramedics.
Garda Hogan seemed at first to have escaped with relatively minor injuries but later yesterday was taken to hospital for observation for back injuries.
Sgt Jarleth Folan, in his 30s and also married with a family, was able to free himself from the car. He is said to have escaped with the lightest injuries.
The crash and injuries to the three gardaí follows last month's "joyriding" incident in south Dublin in which Garda Michael Padden (27) and Garda Tony Tighe (53) were killed when their car was hit by a stolen car travelling at over 100 m. p.h. on the Stillorgan dual-carriageway on April 13th.
Ten gardaí have died in the past four years, in most case while responding to emergency calls or calls for assistance from other gardaí.
Yesterday's incident began when two youths from north Dublin stole a red van in Boyle, Co Roscommon, and drove at speed towards Dublin.
Supt Joe Shelly, of Mullingar Garda station, said the van was travelling at speeds of up to 80 m.p.h and ignored attempts by two Garda squad cars to pull over.
A squad car from Mullingar followed the van while another from Kinnegad station drove in front to clear drivers from the danger of the speeding van.
According to the Garda, just outside Kinnegad the van struck the front squad car carrying the three gardaí, forcing it off the road into an ESB pole. The Garda car was extensively damaged.
The van then careered out of control about 75 years along the road before hitting a ditch.
Gardaí apprehended one of the youths, who are both aged 19, by the van, and the other ran off across fields. The second youth was arrested a short time later.
Supt Shelly was at the scene while the fire brigade crew were freeing his two officers.
He said: "The fire brigade and paramedics did a wonderful job. We were very, very concerned for our men. The scene was like a battleground.
"Garda Martin was taken to Tullamore General Hospital and he has very serious leg injuries. We became concerned for Paul Martin this afternoon. Hopefully, they will make full recoveries."
Garda Martin is from Loughrea, Co Galway, where his father, Michael, serves at the local Garda station. Garda Hogan is from Co Longford, and Sergeant Folan is a native of Tuam, Co Galway.
Gardaí in the midlands have had to contend with speeding cars stolen by Dublin youth for several years and there have been several near-misses. In many cases the youths are under 17 years and repeat offenders who remain at large because of the lack of spaces in juvenile detention centres.
After the deaths of two gardaí in Dublin last month, the Government promised to make more spaces available for juveniles in the adult St Patrick's training unit, attached to Mountjoy Station. However, Dublin gardaí report that there are still inadequate levels of accommodation for young offenders who are involved in robbery and car crime.
Responsibility for housing juvenile offenders lies with the Department of Education. At present there are only around 140 places.