Armed gardai to be deployed in Dublin in multi-million euro overtime plan

Armed gardai will be among specialist units deployed in Dublin city as part of a 10 million euro overtime allocation in the capital.

The plan, which follows increased funding assigned by Minister Helen McEntee in the wake of high-profile assaults in the city, is designed to “bolster high-visibility policing” in Dublin.

One fifth of the allocation is for increasing the deployment of the national public order unit in the city.

There will also be increased presence of uniformed gardai bolstered by the garda air support unit, the mounted unit, the dog unit, road policing units and armed response units.

Gardai announced there will be high-visibility patrols in and around the transport network while Operation Citizen, which tackles street-level drug dealing along with anti-social behaviour and the seizure of alcohol in the city, will be “enhanced”.

Ms McEntee said the additional funding will help gardai “build stronger, safer communities” and “ensure that the city is a safe place for all to live, work and visit”.

“While policing alone cannot solve many of the factors which contribute to criminality or people feeling unsafe, high visibility policing is crucial to providing reassurance for all who live in, work in or visit our capital city.”

A Community Safety Plan for the north inner city will also be launched in the coming weeks.

“Nobody knows better than local communities how to increase safety in their areas – and that is why the community is centrally involved in drawing up these plans,” Ms McEntee said.