It is of huge concern that 646 gardaí were injured while serving the public since the start of the year to the end of September, the Garda Commissioner told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice.
In his opening address to the committee, Drew Harris said that supporting garda personnel faced with trauma, crisis or mental health challenges is a priority for him.
The commissioner said he is fully aware of the personal safety risks and constant demands of a career in policing.
And he pledged to invest in continuous training, development and wellbeing supports.
Just weeks after a major protest resulted in politicians being unable to leave Leinster House for a number of hours, Commissioner Harris said the garda policing of public protests is community-based, engagement focused, legal, proportionate, intelligence-led and human-rights focused.
The Commissioner said An Garda Síochána prides itself on its consent-based and collaborative approach in policing public demonstrations where public safety is paramount.
On the question of rosters, the Commissioner spoke about trying to strike a balance between having sufficient resources to safeguard public safety while ensuring that gardaí have a predictable roster.
He said he has an obligation in law to use resources provided by the Government in an effective and efficient manner.
New safety gun holster
Commissioner Harris confirmed that a new safety gun holster was introduced following the murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan.
He told the Oireachtas Justice Committee that this was done to make it more difficult to remove a firearm from the previously used thumb break holster.
Garda Horkan was shot dead with his own garda issued firearm in Castlerea, Co Roscommon in 2020.
The committee also discussed crime levels in the capital.
The senior Garda in charge of policing in Dublin said that the number of assaults in the capital have not increased significantly since the pandemic, however she said a perception around safety must be dealt with.
Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis said Garda statistics on assaults are very similar to where they were in 2019 and the only category of assault to increase are assaults on Garda members.
She also told the Oireachtas Justice Committee that there had been significant success in relation to a number of high profile assaults last summer.
"There are a number of people before the courts in relation to all of those high profile incidents that happened. There are a number of files with the DPP in relation to further charges that may be preferred in relation to some of the incidents."
She said they knew they needed a collaborative approach to deal with the perceptions around a lack of safety in the city center and to deal with the root causes of that.
Ms Willis said gardaí work with the Anna Liffey drug project to deal with those issues which need a wider response than a law enforcement one.
The committee has previously heard from some witnesses who said the prevalence of begging and drug addiction in the city centre made people feel unsafe.
"When people are hanging around the city centre, maybe waiting to access treatment, they may not be engaging in crime, and for the vast majority of time they are not engaged in crime, but it still creates that perception of fear in the city and we are working very hard to address that."
She said there were a number of added "proactive patrols" under way and additional funding of €10 million was announced to increase policing in Dublin city centre.
Committee chair James Lawless asked about a survey from the Restaurants Association of Ireland where 100% of respondents said Dublin felt less safe now compared with before the pandemic.
He suggested that one of the reasons could be that people are not reporting crime so crime may be up but reported crime levels are static.
Commissioner Drew Harris said there was always an element of underreporting in crime but he did not have any information indicating that was particularly prevalent right now.
150 Garda resignations
The secretary general of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) believes there will be 150 garda resignations by the end of the year.
Brendan O'Connor told RTÉ’s Drivetime that more can be done by An Garda Siochána to support and protect gardaí as there are serious issues in relation to training and self-defence, equipment such as body cameras and support structures following events for those struggling with injuries both physically and mentally.
Mr O’Connor said that the demand on gardaí is "relentless" and levels of violence are rising exponentially, meaning that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a high-level quality of services.
He said: "It's so time consuming and onerous, particularly in busy high demand stations, people are burned out and it’s unsustainable.
"There's pressure to tick boxes demanded by a computer and not to deliver services."
He explained that the issues are systematic problems and while understanding that it is difficult to be in a position of leadership, he called on Mr Harris to fix the existing systems and listen to the people.
He said that the GRA is looking to the commissioner to make the necessary changes that will perhaps improve the situation.
He added that the GRA was hoping to make progress on the issue of garda rosters with talks ongoing.
Additional reporting: Sandra Hurley
