Commissioner signs off on purchase of two water cannon

Gardai will purchase two water cannon for policing riots and other public disorder incidents.

It comes amid a dramatic rise in protests across the country, some of which have resulted in violence and arson.

On Thursday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he had signed off on the procurement of “two anti-riot vehicles”, each with the capacity to carry 5,200 litres of water.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman said that 3.7 million euro had been spent on public-order equipment over the last two-and-a-half years.

She said the public order unit was expanding its fleet of 27 vehicles, adding: “We’ve just spent 1.4 million euro and are at the minute delivering another 15 vehicles across the country.”

Commissioner Harris said gardai “buy the best equipment”, adding that he hoped hard hats will be approved for members within weeks – following complaints from representative bodies.

Asst Commissioner Hilman said there had been a 56% increase in protest activity this year.

There have been 862 protests in the first eight months of the year, up from 553 in the same period last year and 285 in 2022. She said the vast majority conclude peacefully.

The senior gardai were speaking during a meeting of the Policing Authority in Dublin on Thursday.

The Authority was meeting to discuss the as-of-yet unpublished report into public order policing during the November 2023 riots in Dublin, which was submitted to Justice Minister Helen McEntee in August.

Mr Harris said gardai’s response to public order has “evolved very considerably” since the last report in 2019, adding that command structures are “more slick” since the November riots.

He said gardai have additional tactics and equipment available to them, including increased strength pepper spray.

He said: “We’ll never have the exact thing happen again so we’ll always need to make sure that our response is sufficiently agile to deal with the problem of any particular day.”

Authority chairwoman Dr Elaine Byrne said it was her understanding that Ms McEntee would publish the public order policing report.