An Unarmed Force
Uniformed members of An Garda Síochána do not routinely carry firearms. It is a tradition of the service that standard policing should be carried out in both rural and urban areas by uniformed officers equipped only with a wooden truncheon. From March 2007 all new Gardaí have been issued with ASPextendable batons, with existing members to be trained in their use as training allows. In addition, the Garda Commissioner announced in October 2008 that all Gardaí are to be issued with Pepper Spray. A timescale for the implementation of this measure has not yet been announced.
The force when originally created was armed, but the Provisional Government decided to reverse the decision and reconstitute the force as an unarmed police force, in contrast to the attitude of the British Dublin Castle administration which had refused appeals from the Royal Irish Constabulary that that force be disarmed.[7] In the words of first Commissioner, Michael Staines, TD:
“ The Garda Síochána will succeed not by force of arms or numbers, but on their moral authority as servants of the people. ”
According to Garvin such a decision gave the new force a cultural ace: "the taboo on killing unarmed men and women who could not reasonably be seen as spies and informers."[7]
According to a recent government report, 3,000 (out of 12,000) members of the force are armed – this includes the Emergency Response Unit and Special Detective Unit (SDU) as well as most detectives. All officers are trained in the use of firearms while undergoing police training.