An Garda Síochána says gardaí in Dublin city center are using the new €10 million in overtime funding provided by the Government to "enhance visibility and target criminality."
As well as uniform Gardaí, specialist units such as the Garda Air Support Unit, the Garda Mounted Unit, the Garda Dog Unit, Regional Armed Response Units, and Road Policing Units will be deployed to enhance Garda visibility in Dublin city center, An Garda Síochána said in a statement today, Tuesday, August 22.
There will be increased deployment of the Garda National Public Order Unit in Dublin city center, with 20 percent of the €10 million in overtime being dedicated to providing additional public order capacity in the city center on a daily basis.
There will also be an enhanced visible Garda presence at strategic locations in Dublin city center such as main thoroughfares and the Liffey Boardwalk, An Garda Síochána said on Tuesday.
Additionally, there will be planned days of "high impact visibility" in the city centre, involving checkpoints, executions of warrants, services of summonses, intelligence-led searches and arrests, immigration checks, and enforcement of road traffic offenses.
These days of high-impact visibility will be replicated across the other Garda Divisions in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.
High visibility patrols on the transport network in addition to patrols in the vicinity of transport services at peak times will be maintained under Operational Saul.
The €10 million overtime provided by the Government for policing in Dublin will deliver more than 16,500 additional policing hours per month in the city center, An Garda Síochána said.
For the whole Dublin Metropolitan Region including the city centre Divisions, the total additional policing hours per month is 48,500
The Irish police force said there will be a strong focus on "tackling street-level drug dealing, anti-social behavior, and seizure of alcohol in Dublin city center" in the course of Operation Citizen following the €10 million provision from the Government.
Angela Willis, Assistant Commissioner for the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR), said on Tuesday: "The overall objective of our activity is to reassure the citizens, visitors, and the business community that Dublin is a safe place in which to live, visit, and work.
"An enhanced visible policing presence is central to this objective.".
An Garda Síochána also said on Tuesday that in the DMR for the week ending August 20, there were 545 arrests made.
The use of the €10 million in funding was welcomed by Ireland's Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who said she is "pleased" that the plans announced on Tuesday "will deliver increased high visibility policing, including the use of specialist units, in the city."
McEntee announced the €10 million in funding on July 28.
The funding comes after a number of high-profile assaults in Dublin city center. Stephen Termini, a tourist from New York, was seriously assaulted on Talbot Street on July 19, three British tourists were attacked in Temple Bar on August 11, and a man was assaulted on Grafton Street on August 20.
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