Train all our gardaí to be ready for terror

IT is two weeks since the Manchester Arena attack demonstrated beyond all doubt just how low the new wave of terrorists are prepared to stoop.

Now there has been another sickening incident in London. Coming as it did so quickly after the previous outrage, it is clearer than ever that this threat is not going to disappear any time soon.

While there is nothing to be gained from scaremongering, there is nonetheless an onus on us all to be realistic. It only makes sense to be alert to the possibility of there being similar incidents in this country.

We have the right to expect our political leaders to do everything in their power to prevent such bloodbaths in the first place. Equally, they also have a duty to put a comprehensive action plan in place if such a dreadful eventuality does unfold.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan struck a sensible note yesterday when he said there was no direct evidence of any threat to Ireland’s national security, though he added that ‘we’re by no means immune, we’re by no means exempt’.

Less convincing, however, were Mr Flanagan’s assurances that An Garda Síochána is ‘fully in control of the situation here’.

The facts as we know them would tend to suggest otherwise. There is a very limited number of police officers in this country with specialist training in either firearms use or disaster management. Though students at the Garda College are trained in basic public order techniques, that is as far as it ever goes for most of them.

The facts speak for themselves. Once they graduate from Templemore, the majority of frontline gardaí will never receive any further formal instruction in dealing with public order crises.

It is an entirely different situation in Britain, where officers are routinely tutored in disaster management. The net result of that forward planning has been in evidence in recent weeks.

When the Manchester attack occurred, frontline police flooded the area within minutes and created a cordon in which armed units could operate.

Meanwhile, the three individuals responsible for the weekend outrage in London were all dead within eight minutes of the first emergency call being received.

Nobody, least of all this newspaper, disputes that An Garda Síochána made an excellent job of safeguarding national security in the face of the threat posed by the IRA, the INLA and others in decades past. But we live in different times now.

The changing nature of the attacks means it is far less likely that a highly trained marksman from the Emergency Response Unit will be the first on the scene when a major terrorist event happens; the chances are that it will instead be an ordinary member of the force.

For that reason, it is crucial that all frontline gardaí are fully trained in dealing with a major incident.

The bottom line is that it can no longer be assumed that Ireland will not become a target. True, this country carries no military connotations in the way that both Britain and the United States do.

But it would be foolish to try to secondguess what happens next. The copycat pattern emerging over the course of recent attacks makes it impossible to predict the future.

Besides, the mindsets of the people responsible for these atrocities are so clearly warped as to defy any normal definition of logic.

Accordingly, there ought to be no further delay in drawing up a detailed plan and making the necessary resources available to Garda HQ. The Government should also make a priority of introducing street bollards and other security measures in busy shopping areas.

This threat cannot be underestimated. Doing so for any longer would be reckless, negligent and criminally irresponsible.