Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2014
377. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the regular nature of occurrences of the ramming of Garda vehicles; if more will be done to deter this from happening before there is another serious injury or worse among our gardaí; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48186/14]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, I consider the deliberate ramming of Garda vehicles to be a very serious matter, and am aware of course of a number of serious incidents of this nature. The safety of the Gardaí concerned and, of course, the general public is of paramount importance and I can assure the Deputy that all incidents of this nature are subject to full investigation by An Garda Síochána.
It is the case that there is a range of robust road safety and other legislative enforcement provisions available to the Garda authorities in such circumstances. Legislative provisions include the assault offences contained in the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 and for which penalties range from up to 5 years imprisonment to life imprisonment depending on the seriousness of the offence involved. In addition, section 19 Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 provides for specific offences relating to assaults on "peace officers" which includes members of An Garda Síochána. The penalty for this offence was increased from 5 to 7 years imprisonment by section 185 Criminal Justice Act 2006. I would also add that section 2 Criminal Damage Act 1991 provides for the offence of damage to the property of another person for which the penalty is a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. Furthermore, the Road Traffic Act 1961 (as amended) provides for offences of driving without reasonable consideration, careless driving and dangerous driving, and an offence of dangerous driving which causes death or serious bodily harm carrying a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. In addition, as the Deputy will appreciate if the ramming of a Garda vehicle resulted in a death, an offence of attempted murder, murder or manslaughter may be considered applicable with the resultant penalties including mandatory life imprisonment for a conviction for murder.
