Intelligence about terror threats isn’t shared with first respondents .
The President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Tim Galvin, has revealed that Gardaí sergeants and inspectors have expressed concern that certain members of An Garda Síochána wouldn’t be adequately trained or prepared to handle a terrorist attack like those recently seen in Paris and Brussels.
Speaking with Cathal MacCoille on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Galvin states that those Gardaí that are first to the scene of any terrorist attack, the first respondents, are not trained for such situations.
He believes that any first respondents don’t have specific information on a potential a terror threat and that this info is reserved for specialist units only. He states that “frontline staff are working in a vacuum” and that they don’t have the adequate training, information or expertise to deal with such a situation.
“For example, if there is (an extreme) weather warning in place, every Garda in the country is notified. But there is no notification of any terror threat so we’re working in an information deficit; that’s the concern.”
Mr Galvin added while “some information goes out” the “vast majority” of it was confined to the specialist units and other sections of the force in Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin. This lack of resources has been made clear to the Garda commissioners in the aftermath of the Paris and Brussels attacks and that the situation remains unchanged.
After the Paris attacks, the Department of Justice has said that a terrorist attack in Ireland was “possible, but not likely”.
Motion passed calling on Commissioner to provide members with current info on international terror threat #AGSI16 pic.twitter.com/Thunf2bSq1
— AGSI (@AGSI_Ireland) April 13, 2016
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