A garda union representative has said that officers whose vehicle was rammed during an incident in west Dublin last night may not have been properly trained for the situation.
On Monday, crowds gathered around the houses on Cherry Orchard Avenue as two silver cars were rallying up and down the road. One of the cars involved then rammed into a garda car to the delight of the crowd.
President of the Garda Representative Association Brendan O'Connor told RTE's Today with Claire Byrne show: “I have to commend my colleague who was driving that car and I believe that the driver hadn't actually been properly trained.
Read more: Man hospitalised after car strikes crowd in Kildare during car event
"So that's another issue for our members. We have to look at this holistically as a conversation but if you look at it holistically from a garda perspective, and from our members perspective, we have the perfect storm."
Mr O'Connor said that there is currently an "inadequate availability of resources" to respond to what was reported. in Cherry Orchard. He said: "The gardaí who respond are possibly in a vehicle that's not suitable, there's an issue around driver training.
"So I have to commend the driver of the vehicle and the observer who were able to extract themselves from that danger and ensure that the situation didn't result in any serious injury.” Mr O’Connor added that the guards were "traumatised and exposed to danger” and it raised “all sorts of questions” about “equipment, the training and the protocols”.
He added: "We have skeleton response crews because frontline regular units have been depleted so short. We often have our control room staff who are put in an impossible position too, because this call is on the screen has to be dealt with.
"They can only send the resources that are available and a lot of the time now we see too inexperienced young gardai, on their own, with no back up available send to establish the fact. And when they go, what they are confronted with is extreme danger, extreme violence and attacks and they do not have the capacity to respond.”
Earlier, AGSI President Antoinette Cunningham told RTE's Morning Ireland that social media is a "huge factor" in these types of incidents. She said: "The worry here for the people we represent is that this encourages copycat type incidents and that these young people and onlookers feel empowered by these videos, and it encourages more of the same type of behaviour."
The incident has been condemned by local politicians who have called for more resources to tackle the route causes of anti-social behaviour in the area. Local Sinn Fein councillor Daithi Doolan, who is chairperson of the Joint Policing Committee in Dublin South Central, slammed the scenes last night. He said the community has been "ignored for too long" by Government and senior gardai.
He told Dublin Live last night: "Tonight's violence in Cherry Orchard must serve as a wake up call to the Government and senior Gardaí. This community has been ignored for too long. It urgently needs resources and support to tackle this lawlessness."
Tweeting last night, People Before Profit Councillor Hazel De Nortúin wrote: “Images and videos are being shared regarding the incidents in Cherry Orchard tonight.
"There's no other way in describing it other than it's horrific and it's traumatising for residents living in that area. This has been the case for a long time now and we've all been raising this.”
A garda spokesman told Dublin Live: "Gardaí responded to reports of dangerous driving in the Cherry Orchard area. Upon arrival Gardaí observed two vehicles driving erratically.
"Both vehicles failed to stop when requested to do so by Gardaí and one vehicle collided with an official Garda vehicle. No injuries were reported during the incident.
"Gardaí are appealing to any member of the public who may have witnessed this incident to come forward. Gardaí are also appealing to anyone who was travelling in the Cherry Orchard area at this time, who may have camera (dash cam) footage to make this available to investigating Gardaí.
Dublin Live have contacted An Garda Siochana for comment.
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