Arming gardai would be "a step too far", the General Secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has said this morning.
Antoinette Cunningham was responding comments made by Leo Varadkar over the weekend. The Tanaiste said that if the Department of Justice and the Garda Commissioner came to him about requesting that members of the force be armed he would "absolutely say yes".
"People don't feel as safe on our streets, and even in their homes as they did previously," he told the Irish Mail on Sunday. However, Ms Cunningham told Neswstalk there is "no need to change the status quo".
Read more: Tanaiste Leo Varadkar would allow rank and file gardai have guns
She said: “The current ethos of An Garda Síochána is that we are an unarmed police force who police with the consent of the people. While we do have specialist armed units within the organisation itself, I think going from a relatively unarmed police force to a totally armed police force is probably a step too far. I think it’s unnecessary.”
Calls to arm gardai have come after a number of incidents in which members were injured. Two gardai were hospitalised after an incident in Ballyfermot recently while in a separate incident, a female garda suffered a fractured arm and finger in the city centre.
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