Gardaí are investigating how a submachine gun fell out of the boot of an official vehicle driven by specialist armed response gardaí in Dublin city centre.
A member of the public helped ensure it was returned rather than stolen from the scene.
The Irish Times has learned the Garda gun was lost from the vehicle in April on the north quays in Dublin city centre, though news of the incident had not emerged before now.
The Garda firearm – a Heckler & Koch MP7 submachine gun – was in the boot of the vehicle, which somehow opened at the time.
RM Block
Garda Headquarters has not commented on the detail of the incident, but it is understood a member of the public saw a bag containing the gun falling on to the road and then flagged down another Garda vehicle.
The personnel in the second car retrieved the bag, preventing a major security incident if the gun – which can fire almost 1,000 rounds per minute – had been taken from the scene. The firearm was in a bag, with other items including ammunition, at the time.
In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters said: “A senior Garda officer has been appointed to examine all the circumstances surrounding an incident involving an armed Garda unit in Dublin in April.”
Fiosrú, a Garda watchdog agency, did not comment on whether the incident had been referred to it by Garda Headquarters. It said it was “not in a position to comment” on queries put to it.
Another firearm, also a Heckler & Koch MP7, fell from the boot of an armed response unit vehicle in Dublin’s south inner city in 2018. Gardaí saw the gun bag falling, but by the time they were able to return to the spot it had been taken by a member of the public, who handed it in to Store Street Garda station within 30 minutes.
During the 2018 incident, the boot of the vehicle appeared to pop open as the car was driven over a ramp. It is not clear why the boot opened during the more recent case.
The Irish Times understands that, in relation to the April incident, an effort was made to discipline the Garda member the firearm had been assigned to. However, this has been resisted amid annoyance within the ranks of the armed specialist units, which includes the Emergency Response Unit and the Armed Response Unit.
Sources familiar with the case noted when the similar incident occurred in 2018 the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc), Fiosrú’s predecessor, carried out an investigation in the public interest. Gsoc found the gardaí in the vehicle who lost the gun for a time should not be disciplined over any aspect of the case.
Instead, Gsoc sent a report, with recommendations, to Garda Headquarters in 2019. These included fitting netting to the boots of vehicles used by the specialist armed responders to prevent items falling out if a boot somehow opened.
Several sources, however, said those recommendations had not been fully implemented. They believed it would be unfair for the Garda member who owned the gun lost in April to face internal discipline or sanction.
Garda Headquarters did not comment when asked if the recommendations had been implemented. Fiosrú also did not comment on that matter.
However, Fiosrú confirmed Gsoc “sent a non-statutory recommendation for the consideration” of An Garda Síochána in 2019, arising from its investigation into the incident the previous year.
“This related to the secure carriage of firearms in Garda vehicles in a safe manner for both gardaí and the public,” it said. “Gsoc received a letter of acknowledgment from An Garda Síochána in June 2019.”
