Members of the Garda Band are among 120 gardaí who have tonight been redeployed at short notice to frontline Covid policing.
Gardaí, sergeants and inspectors have been transferred from specialist units and the Garda College to operational policing all over the country.
Officers from the Youth Diversion Bureau, the Fixed Charged Notices Office, the Human Resources Department, the Firearms Section, the Anti Corruption Unit, the Garda College and Community Engagement have been directed to report for Covid duties from Monday.
Twenty five members of the Garda Band have been redeployed to police Dublin while another 54 officers from the Garda College in Templemore have been allocated to stations all over the country.
The Garda College has been closed, except for limited essential training, until further notice.
The transfers are temporary but the gardaí will remain on frontline duties until at least 31 January.
Garda management apologised "for the lateness of the notice."
Seventy Garda trainees have also been attested and deployed in Garda stations as have 60 Garda reservists.
At least 200 gardaí all over the country are unavailable for duty because they are self-isolating or have tested positive for coronavirus.
Today the Garda Representative Association became the second Garda organisation after the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors to call for gardaí to be given priority for receiving the Covid vaccine.
