Gardaí say yesterday's tragic accident shows the extreme dangers posed by car thieves in Dublin, but they feel restricted in their efforts to deal with the problem, writes Jim Cusack
A gang of up to 10 youths from the south inner city were marauding in south Co Dublin in the early hours of yesterday, breaking into houses and apartments and stealing cars. The cars were being stolen for both fast driving and to be hidden and used later in armed robberies.
The youths broke into an apartment at Pilot View in Bullock Harbour just before 6 a.m. and stole the keys to a year-old Mazda two-seater car.
The incident was reported to the Garda and other people heard a car being heavily revved and travelling at dangerous speed up through Glenageary towards the main Dublin-Wicklow dual carriageway. The car was reported on the dual carriageway at 6.21 a.m. and seen travelling at well over 100 m.p.h.
Gardaí across south county Dublin are familiar with the pattern and are fully aware of the dangers the car thieves pose.
An alert was issued to all Dublin stations, particularly those on the route back into central Dublin, with the intention of clearing routes which the stolen car was likely to use.
As predicted, it was taken up on to the Stillorgan dual carriageway, a road frequently used by car thieves.
A Garda squad car from Blackrock began by attempting to direct drivers on the dual carriageway - fortunately, few in number so early in the morning - to pull over.
As an attempt was being made to move two cars at the traffic lights at White's Cross, the Mazda shot through the crossroads between the two cars, ripping the side mirror off one of them.
Just about this time, a squad car coming from Donnybrook was passing the UCD campus at Belfield and spotted two cars pulled up at traffic lights on the other side of the dual carriageway.
The stationary cars were in clear danger and Garda Tony Tighe, the driver and an officer with 32 years service, pulled across and began attempting to tell the two drivers to get off the dual carriageway.
Garda Tighe, who was accompanied in the car by Garda Mick Padden, had just pulled over into the bus lane at the junction with The Rise when the Mazda car smashed into the side of their car. Both officers were killed instantly.
The two youths in the car which struck them escaped serious injury as their vehicle tore through the Garda car. One was reported to have suffered a knee injury, while the other sustained a broken ankle.
Gardaí yesterday said the incident illustrates the extreme danger posed by young car thieves in Dublin. A number said this problem has been increasing in recent times with youths from across the south inner city - from Drimnagh to Ronanstown - travelling into the suburbs at weekends with the specific intention of stealing fast cars.
Gardaí have reduced the amount of such car theft in recent years and have had considerable success using the Garda helicopters. However, this is usually not available until later in the morning and does not often operate at night at the weekends.
One Garda source complained yesterday that there were not enough "stingers" - the chain line of spikes which can be thrown across the path of a speeding, stolen car bringing it to a safe halt. There are usually only a couple of "stingers" to each Garda division.
There is also a legal anomaly which restricts their use. They cannot be used to stop stolen cars, - only when gardaí suspect the car is being used in the commission of another crime. Gardaí who have frequently had to deal with stolen cars say this is a ludicrous loophole which needs to be addressed before more lives are lost.
Gardaí also agree that the State has not provided anywhere near enough resources for handling and detaining juvenile offenders. They are fully supported in this view by judges who have consistently complained about the lack of safe places of detention for juvenile offenders over the past decade.
Staff at the detention centres in Lusk and Lucan concur, pointing out that they are seriously under-resourced.
Gardaí in Dublin say they are fed up bringing youths who are multiple offenders out to the juvenile detention centres only to be told they are full and then have to bring them back to their homes, and then finding that they are reoffending within hours.
Yesterday they said incidents such as the deaths of their two colleagues were a result of institutional inadequacies in the criminal justice system.