Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply which has taken a long time. I first tabled this question on 1 October and received a similar response, without a date but to the effect that the report was not yet to hand. I hoped the inspectorate would have moved with alacrity.

Since the publication of the Barr report, less than lethal weapons have been issued to the emergency response unit, ERU. The Minister indicated to me in a reply to a previous parliamentary question that three varieties of non-lethal weapon, bean bag shot, pepper spray and ferret pepper spray shot have been issued to the ERU. What are these devices? What evaluation has the ERU made of their usefulness to date? Has the Minister any plans to provide at least the pepper spray or any of the other devices to the rest of the gardaí, some of whom find themselves in difficult situations with no protection other than a baton?

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