Gardaí say they made over 500 arrests in Dublin last week.
The announcement comes as the force works to show high visibility in the city after the brutal assault on US tourist Stephen Termini off Talbot Street last month.
Concerns over safety in the city in the days after the attack led to the Department of Justice announcing an extra €10m in funding for Garda overtime in Dublin until the end of the year.
The overtime is expected to provide for 240,000 extra Garda hours, or 20,000 extra Garda shifts in the city to the end of the year.
This morning, Gardaí published the results of their actions in the city over a one-week period.
They said they made over 500 arrests, conducted more than 680 searches, and took part in 1,500 patrols between Friday July 28th and Thursday August 3rd.
Officers were involved in:
- 509 Arrests – 89 for drug trafficking
- 689 Searches – approximately 500 of these were under the Drugs Act
- 1,538 Patrols – 154 on or around public transport
- 196 road safety checkpoints
"This amount and variety of operational activity in one week across the Dublin region shows the dedication of Gardaí to actively work in communities to keep people safe,” said Assistant Commissioner, DMR, Angela Willis.
“It reflects the work that is undertaken every week by Gardaí in Dublin. In the last week alone, this has seen significant amounts of drugs taken off the streets, lives protected on our roads, and enabled people and communities to enjoy a variety of events safely.”
Meanwhile, a driver was arrested, on average, every half hour over the bank holiday weekend for suspected drink or drug driving.
A total of 181 people were arrested on suspicion of the offence over the weekend.
Three people were also killed in crashes in Counties Wicklow, Donegal and Tipperary between Friday and Monday.
