Bean-bag shot, pepper spray and ferret spray shot are to be supplied to the Garda Emergency Response Unit as "less-lethal weapons", the Dáil was told yesterday.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the Garda Commissioner was finalising the acquisition of these items, as well as a training syllabus "to be undertaken by selected members of the Garda Síochána".
This "less-lethal technology is preferable to plastic bullets and firearms in general", he said.
He explained that bean-bag shot was "effectively a bag filled with shot fired from a shotgun so that it does not penetrate the body, but delivers a blow with the intention of temporarily incapacitating the person".
Pepper spray will be supplied in a special aerosol projector with an aim of 25 to 30 feet, and ferret spray shot is a shotgun cartridge device "intended to penetrate a door or window, and deliver pepper spray inside".
Mr McDowell said there had been confidential consultations with other police forces internationally on the use of such "less-lethal" weapons, and with manufacturers and suppliers.
Mr Ciaran Cuffe (Green, Dún Laoghaire) asked if the Minister planned a wider consultation with civil liberties organisations who had international experience or with the public.
Mr McDowell said the three types of weapons were being supplied in substitution for firearms.
"I appreciate that some of these less-lethal weapons can be dangerous, but there is nothing as dangerous as the use of firearms in terms of the armoury available to the Garda Síochána."
He said: "I do not think any civil liberties group will urge the use of firearms in preference to less-lethal weapons."
He added that it was open to any civil liberties group to express its views, and "I will pay close attention to any such views".
The Green Party TD said there were concerns in the US about these items being "bad technology".
Mr McDowell said any technology of this kind could not be entirely devoid of risk. Some police forces had criticised these less-lethal weapons as quite dangerous if improperly used or used in circumstances where the outcome was not as clear as that intended by the user.
He said he accepted that criticism, but some of such criticism "comes from police forces which use the plastic bullet. They say that those bullets also involve problems.
"Since we do not use the plastic bullet in this jurisdiction, the Garda is making a fair judgment in saying that this less-lethal technology is preferable to plastic bullets and to firearms in general."
