2,267 members of An Garda Síochána have been assaulted on active duty since 2013, new figures have revealed.
In 2020, there were 205 reported assaults, 241 the following year, while there have been 196 thus far this year.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that any assault on a Garda was an assault on an entire community; while Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín says people who assault Gardaí must be sent to prison.
“We in Aontú have created a new bill that would guarantee a custodial sentence - a minimum custodial sentence - for anybody who assaults a Garda, an ambulance worker or a fire service worker,” he told Newstalk.
“These are servants of the people carrying out very dangerous work and we need to make sure that they can do that work without fear of being assaulted.”
The Government said that anyone convicted of assaulting a Garda can be jailed for up to seven years, under current laws.
Main image: A member of An Garda Síochána. Picture by: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie
