Garda in patrol car rammed in Cherry Orchard says it was ‘daunting to see baying mob’

Two female gardaí were responding to reports of dangerous driving in the Cherry Orchard area of Dublin on Monday evening when their car was twice rammed by a stolen car.

Video footage of the incident showed crowds of onlookers watching two cars race up and down a residential street before the ramming incident took place.

One of the gardaí in the patrol car said in statement, released through the Garda Representative Association (GRA) this evening: “I’m alive, that’s the main thing.

"It was so daunting to see a mob baying for our car to be rammed.”

The GRA’s West Division representative, Detective Garda Mark Ferris, said both gardaí have been medically assessed by their own GPs and are now off duty on medical advice due to their injuries.

Both were said to still be trying to process the traumatic events, he said.

Concerns have been raised at the level of garda resources in the area to cope with the significant anti-social behaviour that has left residents terrified.

It is understood that the nearby Ballyfermot garda station has been closed for the detention of prisoners since March 2020 and is under strength in terms of the number of frontline gardaí.

It is also understood that there have been 15 resignations from the Ballyfermot District in the last two-and-a-half years alone.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has described the ramming incident as “disgraceful” and “concerning”.

Mr Harris said there have been “vigorous” police operations in place in the area, and did not accept that the gardaí involved had inadequate resources.

“That first car was the initial response but in the end we had 11 mobiles deployed and that restored order to the whole area,” he said.

However the GRA president Brendan O’Connor said earlier this week: “We have skeleton response crews because frontline regular units have been depleted so short.

"So, we often have our control room staff who are put in an impossible position too, because this call is on the screen has to be dealt with and they can only send the resources that are available and a lot of the time now we see too inexperienced young gardaí, on their own, with no back up available to send to establish the fact and when they go, what they are confronted with is extreme danger, extreme violence and attacks and they do not have the capacity to respond.”