Michael McNamara
Question:453. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Justice the number of barricade hostage incidents involving gardaí in the first eleven months of 2020; and the number in 2019. [43273/20]
View answerTuesday, 15 December 2020
Questions (453)
Written answers
The Deputy will be aware that in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána.
I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that the National Negotiation Unit (NNU) has a panel of trained Garda Negotiators spread across the State as an on-call resource. These negotiators can be deployed to any incident of the type described by the Deputy to begin dialogue with a view to influencing a safe conclusion. Training, deployment and governance of these negotiators rests with the NNU.
I am informed by An Garda Síochána that for the year 2019, the National Negotiation Unit (NNU) were activated on 98 occasions for various types of incidents.
The breakdown for these calls were as follows:
Mental Health 35
Mental Health Barricade 32
Criminal 18
Extortion 1
Possible Kidnap / Hostage 2
Planned Operation 1
Possible CRI Alert 1
High Risk Missing Person 2
Mobile Suspect 1
No Offence 2
Assistance to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 3
The NNU have been activated on 89 occasions up to and including the 30th of November 2020. The breakdown of these calls was as follows:
Mental Health 17
Mental Health Barricade 21
Criminal 41
Possible Kidnap / Hostage 1
Possible CRI Alert 1
Assistance to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 4
Assistance from on call Mental Health Professionals 3
High Risk Missing Person 1
The Deputy should note that the requests for assistance from the on call Mental Health Professionals in relation to the fitness of subjects for interview is not a figure that would have been recorded in previous years. Many of the incidents recorded as Criminal in nature would also have an underlying Mental Health issue which would have acted as a contributing factor.