EXPLAINED: Why Gardaí are calling for new road traffic laws

There was a little bit of head scratching earlier this week when the Garda Commissioner called for new laws to be brought in for Gardaí in pursuit of law breakers.

Many people were caught on the hop as Gardaí break red lights when in car chases already, so why are new rules necessary?

This point was made a number of times in the comments under The Mayo News Facebook post on the story, so we have written an explainer to give the context of why the Gardaí are seeking a change.

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Garda conviction

A recent conviction of a serving garda officer has thrown a long-standing legal tension into sharp relief: when a member of An Garda Síochána breaks the rules of the road in the course of their duties, are they actually protected by law? The answer, it turns out, less clear cut than you might think.

The issue came to a head following a conviction in which a garda received a two-year road ban for dangerous driving after pursuing two scrambler bikes. Commissioner Justin Kelly said the case had "crystallised" a number of issues for the force, including around training and policy. But the deeper problem wasn't internal — it was written into legislation.

The case echoed an earlier incident. In July 2021, Dean Maguire, Karl Freeman, and Graham Taylor died instantly when a BMW burst into flames following a head-on crash with a truck on the N7, while they were driving on the wrong side of the road fleeing gardaí.

A garda, John Francis Ryan of Tallaght Garda Station, was subsequently charged with endangerment of life and sent forward for trial before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The charge related to how he drove during the pursuit.

These cases have exposed how individual gardaí can be to prosecution for driving decisions made while responding to serious incidents.

What are the Gardaí currently exempted from?
The relevant legislation is Section 87 of the Road Traffic Act 2010, which sets out exemptions for emergency vehicles.

Section 87 states that requirements relating to the driving and use of vehicles do not apply to a member of An Garda Síochána driving in the performance of their duties — but only where such use does not endanger the safety of road users.

The critical catch is in the exceptions to that exemption. The section specifically carves out and withholds protection from several offences: sections 51A, 52, and 53 of the Road Traffic Act — which cover driving without reasonable consideration, careless driving, and dangerous driving respectively — as well as drink driving provisions.

In plain English: a garda is exempt from most road traffic rules while on duty, but is still fully exposed to prosecution for careless or dangerous driving. So a garda who runs a red light with blue lights on while pursuing a suspect could still be charged with dangerous driving — the same offence that applies to any member of the public.

What's missing from Irish law is a provision that would explicitly protect a garda who, acting in good faith during a pursuit or emergency response, drives in a way that might technically meet the threshold for one of those offences. Without that amendment, every high-speed pursuit or emergency response carries significant personal legal risk for the officer involved.

The Garda Commissioner wants new rules
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly made the case for legislative reform at the 48th Annual AGSI Delegate Conference in Westport, arguing that current road traffic laws fail to adequately distinguish between a member of the public breaking the rules of the road and a garda engaging in pursuit of a suspect.

"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. "They're worried about potential prosecution." He confirmed the matter has already been raised with the Department of Justice and the Minister, both of whom he described as supportive, and that he has tasked Assistant Commissioner Catharina Gunne — who oversees roads policing — with developing a formal proposal to be submitted to the Department.

The Commissioner indicated that any new legislative framework could potentially extend beyond An Garda Síochána to cover all emergency services.

How would it play in the courts?
The legal situation is further complicated by how the courts interpret the existing law. Judges are bound strictly by the text of the legislation as written — if an exemption is not explicitly stated, it does not exist. A jury might acquit an officer in sympathy with the difficult circumstances of a pursuit, but a judge dealing with a summary offence (one tried without a jury) has far less flexibility.

This matters practically because dangerous driving not causing injury or death is currently a summary-only offence in Ireland, meaning it is dealt with by a judge alone, without a jury. If it were a hybrid or indictable offence, a defendant could opt for a jury trial in the Circuit Court — bringing a greater chance of acquittal based on the circumstances, though also the risk of heavier penalties.

Scrambler bikes
A ban on scrambler bikes will come into force in public places from this Friday. It follows the tragic death of a Dublin teenager, with unregistered scramblers long presenting a particular challenge for road policing — riders often flee gardaí knowing that current legal ambiguities limit how aggressively officers can pursue them.

The broader question being put to the Oireachtas is whether it makes sense for the state to ask gardaí to enforce road traffic law, pursue fleeing suspects, and respond to serious incidents at speed — while leaving those same officers personally exposed to criminal prosecution for doing exactly that job.

Commissioner Kelly's answer is clear: "No matter what I do as Garda Commissioner around policies and procedures, there's a limit to what I can do with that. 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."