Garda Commissioner calls for new laws allowing Gardaí to run red lights

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has called for legislative changes that would apply a higher legal threshold to members of An Garda Síochána involved in road collisions while responding to emergency calls.

The proposed new rules would seek to ensure that Gardaí were not punished for breaking red lights while in pursuit of lawbreakers. 

Commissioner Kelly made the case in the wake of a recent conviction involving a garda member, who was was given a two-year road ban for dangerous driving after pursing two scrambler bikes.

Speaking to reporters in Westport, he argued that current road traffic laws fail to adequately distinguish between a member of the public or off-duty driver breaking the rules of the road and a garda responding to a serious call for service.

"It's not in anyone's interest, particularly members of An Garda Síochána, that they would go to work and they don't feel like they're protected, and they don't feel like they can do their job properly," Commissioner Kelly said speaking at the AGSI annual conference in Westport. "They're worried about potential legislation, potential prosecution."

The Commissioner said the case had "crystallised" a number of issues for the force, including around training and policy, but stressed that internal reforms could only go so far.

"No matter what I do as Garda Commissioner around policies and procedures, there's a limit to what I can do with that," he said. "What I really think is needed here are some legislative changes, and particularly around the thresholds for our members who are involved in pursuits that sometimes lead to accidents."

Kelly said it did not appear right to him that a garda officer responding to a serious call with blue lights activated and who is subsequently involved in a collision is treated in law the same as a member of the public who runs a red light.

He confirmed he has already raised the matter with the Department of Justice and with the Minister, both of whom he described as supportive. He has also tasked Assistant Commissioner Catharina Gunne, who oversees roads policing, with developing a formal proposal to be submitted to the Department of Justice.

The Commissioner indicated that any new legislative framework could potentially extend beyond An Garda Síochána to cover all emergency services. "Maybe not just for members of An Garda Síochána — it could be for emergency services, so for example, other agencies," he said, adding that the detail would depend on the outcome of the assistant commissioner's research.

A total of 165 Garda Sergeants and Inspectors are attending the 48th Annual AGSI Delegate Conference in Westport.