The Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, has criticised a report by United Nations human rights monitors on An Garda Síochána’s purchase of “double-strength” pepper spray and potential deployment of Tasers as “ill-informed and inaccurate”.
O’Callaghan was commenting on a report by UN human rights rapporteurs Gina Romero and Alice Jill Edwards, who were critical of gardaí for purchasing strong pepper sprays, and of the way these products were used on protesters at Dublin Port last year.
“I thought the report was ill informed and inaccurate,” O’Callaghan told reporters at a Garda event in Macroom, Co Cork. “I thought the reference to the use of pepper spray previously by An Garda Síochána at Dublin Port where they said it was a response to a peaceful protest was inaccurate.”
Romero and Edwards said they were “alarmed” that the Garda had acquired SABRE Red Crossfire MK‑3 Gel, one of the strongest irritant or pepper sprays on the market, and “dismayed” to learn that gardaí could potentially use Tasers “against pregnant women and the elderly”.
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O’Callaghan said he was satisfied that An Garda Síochána were careful in their deployment of pepper spray and didn’t believe there had been any use of Tasers by uniformed members since they became available to them on a pilot programme basis.
“I’m very conscious that in terms of providing An Garda Síochána with pepper spray and/or Tasers, there has to be a very careful balance struck,” he said.
“However, I’ve a responsibility to ensure gardaí are protected whilst they’re performing a very important role on behalf of the people.
“That’s why I believe the availability of pepper sprays and of Tasers [is] necessary, but they obviously should only be used in very limited and exceptional circumstances. And I believe operationally An Garda Síochána are aware of that and practise that.”
The UN-appointed experts said Tasers had the capacity to deliver electric shocks to a target’s body and Edwards had identified their use “as being inherently cruel, inhuman or degrading and therefore considered to be prohibited”.
The spray the UN experts expressed concern about was first purchased by the Garda as part of efforts to bolster public order policing after the Dublin riots of November 2023. It has since been used at several events, including those involving far-right and pro-Palestine protesters.
The special rapporteurs said the spray had allegedly been used by gardaí against “peaceful” protesters at a pro-Palestine event last October. It was used “alongside other excessive means of force”, resulting in injuries among several peaceful protesters, they said.
“Less-lethal weapons”, they said – using a term for weaponry, deployed by law enforcement bodies, which are designed to incapacitate or subdue – “should not be used in situations of crowd control, especially in situations involving the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly”.
O’Callaghan was speaking in Macroom, Co Cork, where he was joined by Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly to turn the sod for the Cork County Division of An Garda Síochána.
Kelly also took issue with the UN rapporteurs’ view on Garda Taser deployment.
He said Tasers have been used for many years by specialist units in An Garda Síochána, such as the Armed Support Unit, but they have only been available to uniformed officers since December on a pilot programme basis.
“They haven’t been used in the sense that they have not yet fired them,” he said. “They have been deployed in that they have been withdrawn from their holsters, but they haven’t been fired.
“But the deployment, withdrawing them from their holsters has, I think, been really beneficial from one point of view in that they have de-escalated a number of situations.
“No uses to date, but this is a six-month pilot so we’ll have to see obviously how it goes.”
