Vol. 558 No. 2
87 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will publicly release or otherwise make available to the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the report of the Garda review group examining alternatives to firearms, which resulted in the recent approval of purchase of non-lethal weapons for the Garda Síochána, including a 12 gauge bean bag shotgun, a chemical gas projectile, and a multi-purpose chemical grenade. [23815/02]
The Government noted, on 19 November 2002, my proposal to authorise the introduction of the following "less lethal" weapons for use by the Garda emergency response unit where this is necessary to avoid the use of firearms: bean bag shot – this is effectively a bag filled with shot fired from a shotgun so that it does not penetrate the body but delivers a blow with the intention of temporarily incapacitating the person; pepper spray device – this is a special aerosol projector which is designed to deliver a directional pepper spray to a distance of 25-30 feet; and ferret pepper spray shot – this is a shotgun cartridge device that is intended to penetrate a door or window and deliver pepper spray inside.
