Uniformed gardaí have a perception that they are facing greater threats to their safety on a daily basis in modern Ireland than they have faced in their history. Even in the worst years of the troubles, the IRA might have held a hatred for the detective officers but they had a respect for the uniform of the unarmed Garda; they had a policy that they would not shoot members of the force.

Symptoms of this fear became evident by the take-up of the anti-stab and anti-ballistics vests that were offered to both uniformed gardaí and detectives earlier in the year. Garda representative associations at first feared that their members would reject the wearing of the protective clothing; but many were shocked by the ease with which this new practice was adopted.

The last group within the force to receive the protective vests were student gardaí who were in training in stations throughout the country. They received their personal issue in August.

Prior to this, a serving, experienced member of the force asked the Garda Review whether there was anything we could do to highlight that students were out with gardai and were not issued with vests. In Tallaght Garda station, a training centre for the Dublin South region, students were borrowing vests from members who had finished their shift - such was the demand for take up.

In the last year alone, we have heard of cases where a member of the force has had live ammunition placed on his car outside of his house, as a warning from a criminal gang.

The association that represents the vast majority of Gardaí have called for more armed response units.

In May, gardaí who had discharged firearms in the course of their duties requested that they be allowed to give evidence behind screens in any subsequent legal proceedings, and requested new legislation to prevent members being publicly named in any incident that involved firearms.

Detective Garda Ultan Sherlock told delegates to the Garda Representative Association conference in Westport that “Threats to our members are real. There is no point in giving information to criminals about the names of members involved in such instances to target our members and members’ homes.

Garda Bernadette Connell said, “We have members who have prices put on their heads. A couple of grand – that is what life is worth as a member of An Garda Síochána.”

There was a sense of the real fear and menace that gardaí have to accept when going to work, at any time of day. When the news started to spread that Garda Paul Sherlock had been shot in Dublin’s morning rush hour there a sense that the boundary had been finally crossed with the new breed of gangland criminal. Garda representatives had held the pessimistic view that this was only a matter of time before an unarmed, uniformed garda was shot.

In Dublin’s city centre, in the garda south central division where Garda Sherlock is based, one prominent garda suggested yesterday that not alone are an increase in armed mobile patrols required as a matter of urgency, but current levels of personnel are at all-time low despite the government’s accelerated recruitment campaign. One of the busiest Garda stations in the country is Harcourt Terrace, staffed by the same number of gardaí for the past five years. He said, “Kevin Street Garda Station is in the same boat.”

It was the crossing of the rubicon for many gardai when Garda Paul Sherlock was gunned down. It signalled that the new breed of gangland criminal had no respect for the traditions of the force in Ireland. The will of the people and consent of the communities was not enough to protect a public servant doing their job in a democracy.

The uniform, as an idea symbolic of the state was being construed to history in one foul act; this was a ‘seminal moment’.

Recent statistics suggest that a gangland ‘hit’ has roughly a one-in-six chance of being solved and the perpetrator brought to justice. This is Russian roulette for any would-be assassin; and this has defined itself as not being a deterrent to the new breed of cocaine-fuelled criminal who must appreciate that their own life-expectancy in their trade going to be below the national average; but they do not care.

One of the properties of cocaine use is that it removes the brain’s natural inhibitory mechanism. It overrides any innate sense of right or wrong, if it were there to start with. It also fuels paranoia.

Gardaí have been asking for non-lethal weapons for nearly a year; feeling that they afford protection for both the officer and the assailant, who will be visually incapacitated for around 30 minutes with stinging eyes that they cannot open, allowing the garda to move quickly out of the way of a targeted assault. The perpetrator fully recovers from the pepper-based spray after this time, whereas the traditional wooden baton is primitive and clumsy as a means of response.

In some circumstances drawing a baton may make the garda subject to a lengthy and stressful investigation from the Garda Ombudsman as there is no scientific thinking or textbook direction for its use.

Garda are hamstrung by ever increasing accountability and pressured to be more effective in their duties. Even the previous Minister for Justice, who gave little quarter to members, agreed that policing was a compromise between effectiveness and accountability. The more time spent analysing one’s own behaviour and following set procedures and paperwork was time lost on the beat.

So when the Garda Representative Association’s General Secretary calls for a debate on the ‘final taboo’, what are gardai really asking for? Do they want all members to be armed?

There are many who believe that students in the Garda College in Templemore would accept the offer with open arms. They have the fear of having at least 30 years of policing ahead of them in the only European state that doesn’t arm its uniformed police force. I have asked many members to name another country where the uniformed police do not carry guns. They have struggled to name one.

The refusal by any State institution to even engage in meaningful debate about the arming of our guardians of the peace is political. No one wants to suggest that the dream is over; that dancing at crossroads and Dublin in rare auld times is gone. They prefer to hide beneath a cloak of Ireland’s Own and hope that they aren’t written into history as the first person to suggest that sacred cows can be eaten.

Perhaps the GRA are aiming high in order to raise the debate about garda safety and protection in the wake of one of their own being shot. They can be forgiven for that.

But my impression is that once the protective body armour was snapped up with such vigour, they know that their members now feel under threat and want greater protection – at least they want more armed patrols that are primed for action rather than being distracted from investigations.

Someone has already called for the army to be brought in; so the taboo of routinely arming uniformed gardai can only be a short step away. At last, meaningful debate.

Neil Ward is editor of Garda Review