Irish police will be given “whatever resources they require” to deal with dangerous driving, the country’s justice minister has announced, including pursuit training for the first time.
Jim O’Callaghan’s commitment came one day after five teenagers died after the car in which they were travelling the wrong way down a motorway was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle.
Four people in the other car, all members of the same family, were seriously injured in the crash on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Gardaí 'in shock' after 'horrific incident'
A body representing rank-and-file members of Ireland’s police service, An Garda Síochána, said an instruction had been given not to pursue the vehicle the wrong way down the motorway.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said its members were “all in shock” after the “horrific incident”.
GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell said on Monday: “This involved a stolen BMW that drove, trying to evade gardaí, drove the wrong way down the M9 and then a head-on collision occurred with this car of a family heading to Dublin Airport on holidays for a few days.”
Mr O’Connell said the BMW had earlier failed to stop for gardaí and it was his understanding that an instruction was given not to engage with the vehicle as it travelled the wrong way down the M9.
He also said there was not a single member of An Garda Síochána trained specifically in pursuit.
Minister condemns 'reckless criminal behaviour'
Speaking to the media later on Monday, Mr O’Callaghan said: “Yesterday, we saw outrageously dangerous criminal behaviour by five teenagers that resulted in them losing their own lives and also inflicting serious injuries on a family that were lawfully using the M9.
“I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms that reckless criminal behaviour.
“I also want to emphasise that anyone who makes a decision to drive a vehicle deliberately the wrong way down a motorway is engaged in lethally dangerous behaviour, and it must stop.”
Mr O’Callaghan said he had spoken with Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and told him that gardaí “will have whatever resources they require from Government in order to respond to this threat to public safety”.
He said his Cabinet colleague Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien was preparing legislation to strengthen protections for gardaí involved in pursuits.
Pursuit training to be introduced this year
Mr O’Callaghan added: “I have also spoken to the commissioner today about the legitimate points that were made by the GRA in respect of pursuit training.
“The commissioner again emphasised that he is going to introduce pursuit training into An Garda Síochána and he will be the first commissioner to do that.”
The minister said this would happen this year.
Mr O’Callaghan acknowledged the “extremely difficult judgment” call involved in initiating a Garda pursuit of a car, particularly the wrong way down a motorway, as it could result in “even more serious injuries” than those seen on Sunday.
However, he said there “may be situations where it is appropriate” to pursue a car that will not stop.
Mr O’Callaghan said he also wanted to introduce a specific offence for deliberately driving the wrong way down a motorway, adding: “That is using a vehicle as a weapon, and it is a lethal form of behaviour that, as we saw over the weekend, results in deaths and serious injuries.”
Mr O’Callaghan further said that social media companies have a big responsibility in not allowing posts that “glorify criminal behaviour”.
He said: “Social media companies need to step up to the mark as well in respect of their own responsibilities.”
Content depicting wrong-way driving and car thefts was visible on social media sites on Monday.
TikTok says it has removed all of the flagged content and banned accounts which violate its policies against criminal behaviour.
It also said it removes content that glorifies violence and promotes crime that could harm others, while limiting the spread of material which encourages unsafe behaviour including risky driving.
Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook, has policies to restrict users under 18 from seeing imagery depicting real-life dangerous driving likely to cause injury as well as prohibition of content promoting criminal or harmful activities such as high-risk viral challenges.
Snap has also been contacted for comment.
