Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 517: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the use of tasers by members of the Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35509/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Conductive electric devices (CEDs), often referred to by the brand name "TASER", form part of the range of less lethal weapons available to the members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit who have undergone appropriate training and qualification in their use. They form part of An Garda Síochána's response to critical incidents and give An Garda Síochána a more flexible, less lethal capability.

The purpose of CEDs and other less lethal weapons is to temporarily incapacitate a person from a safe distance in circumstances where it might otherwise be necessary to have resort to lethal force. Their use is strictly regulated under Garda directives. Where members of the Emergency Response Unit are faced with threats of serious violence and it is reasonably believed that these threats may result in serious injury to themselves or others, and where no other option is available, a CED may be employed. The circumstances in which less lethal weapons may be used are limited, therefore, to where it is necessary to avoid the use of firearms. Strict conditions are laid down for the use of firearms, including a requirement in all cases that all other means of achieving the purpose in question have been exhausted. The test which currently applies to the use of less lethal weapons, that their use is necessary to avoid the use of firearms, is therefore a high one.