Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I acknowledge the raft of legislation in place. The punishment for those guilty of such offences is very strict and severe but, unfortunately, this message does not seem to be hitting home. Would the Minister agree it would be advantageous to create a specific offence of deliberately ramming a Garda vehicle and applying a serious custodial sentence?

Apart from trying to prevent this crime we need to accept that it will continue to happen. Perhaps we need to consider ensuring that all Garda vehicles, rather than some, are larger, more robust vehicles and that there should be additional safety features provided such as the reinforcement of the vehicles. Ramming of Garda vehicles is happening and we need to equip our gardaí to ensure they are safe when this occurs.

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