An Garda Síochána: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-13
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Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I commend my colleagues Senator Kelleher, and former Garda, Senator Noel O'Donovan, on bringing forward the motion. It is a welcome and opportune motion for the time we have with the various serious criminality that is, unfortunately, finding its way into our streets. It is an issue that has been discussed up and down the Chamber this evening and the real need to support our gardaí. I am thinking of the 597 gardaí who are stationed in the Wexford-Wicklow Garda division. In particular, I am thinking about the four gardaí from Wexford, including Garda Roe, Garda Fogarty and Garda Nolan, who lost their lives in the line of duty. I also think of Garda Seamus Quaid who was killed 45 years ago by members of the Provisional IRA when he apprehended a van filled with explosives following the IRA robbing a bank. He was killed in the line of duty as a member of An Garda Síochána. He was shot in a gunfight. The reality for gardaí up and down the country is that they put their lives first into harm's way. They are the ones who go into the danger. The reality for all of us in this Chamber is that there an obligation and an onus on us to support the men and women of An Garda Síochána. The motion proposes a number of real, practical measures on behalf of the Fine Gael group of Senators that would allow us to do that. There is a real need to support the men and women who pursue in vehicles suspects of crime. It should never be the case that a garda who puts on the blue lights and goes after a suspect in a chase would find themselves up before the courts being prosecuted for dangerous driving. There are always examples of where there is a need to have that on the Statute Book but my first priority would be to support the men and women and to prevent them from being prosecuted from dangerous driving when they are pursuing suspects fleeing from a crime. We need clear, legislative change in this area. I call on the Minister of State, the Department and all of us in this House to support that change. There is a vacuum in the law and we have an opportunity to fix it. That is what we should be doing. I support this motion.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-13