A TASER stun gun was used for the first time by gardaí this week, when a suspect in Limerick's notorious gang feud was arrested.
Members of the Garda's Emergency Response Unit (ERU), which was deployed to the city two weeks ago, are authorised to use the non-lethal weapon.
The Taser shoots small darts which deliver an electric shock, designed to stun a person, while not harming them permanently.
ERU members suspected the 46-year-old Limerick man who was arrested on Thursday night was carrying a firearm and they used a Taser gun to subdue him. It is understood he had attempted to flee before the Taser was used.
Gardaí arrested the man in the Rhebogue area of the city. They also seized an automatic pistol and two ammunition magazines.
The man was being detained at Henry Street Garda station last night under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Members of the ERU are currently stationed in Limerick city as gardaí seek to quell an increase in feud-related violence, which in the past week has claimed the lives Mark Moloney (40) and James Cronin (20).
Separately yesterday, former minister for justice Michael Noonan outlined a series of proposals to help defeat gangland crime in Limerick.
The Fine Gael Limerick-East TD called for the establishment of a Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) "sub-office" to be based in the city, "where there would be a more immediate response from the Cab to issues that arise in Limerick, literally on a weekly basis".
An ERU division should be permanently deployed in Limerick, he suggested, and not just on a "kind of a PR basis" every time there were high profile murders.
Mr Noonan also queried why an assistant Garda commissioner based in Cork was co-ordinating Garda efforts in Limerick. He said there should be an assistant commissioner in Limerick so that the chain of command and specific orders be as direct as possible.
In addition, Mr Noonan proposed that Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan request that senior judges in Limerick convene to discuss sentencing policy, as he believed punishment for gun crime was too lenient at present.
On RTÉ Morning Ireland programme yesterday, he said the judges should get involved in the debate on crime and punishment in the city following the recent escalation in gangland activity.
He also suggested those who received the mandatory life sentence for a gangland-type murder should serve terms of 20 to 25 years, while people who were caught in possession of automatic weapons, should as "a general rule of thumb", do 15 years in prison.
There should also be a consideration "that in certain circumstances" remission involved in a prison sentence be refused to some criminals, he said. These measures would ensure that "real deterrents" were introduced to help eradicate the crime problem.
"I think we should operate as far as possible within due process, but what's there at the moment isn't making a dent in the drug trade in this country and I think we have to go further," he added.