The number of arrests over the Donegal International Rally weekend is down considerably on recent years.
Gardai today expressed their delight and paid tribute to rally fans who flooded into the county.
The head of the Garda Traffic Corps in Donegal, Inspector Seamus McGonigle told Donegal Daily he was delighted with how things went from an operation perspective.
Arrests for dangerous driving, public order and other incidents were all down despite the large crowds which came into the county.
He said “We’re very pleased with how things went and we are happy to report that we had no serious traffic incidents or assaults.
“Resources was not an issue for our members policing the rally and I think that really paid off because we had a strong presence.
“We had very few incidents of dangerous driving or assaults and I would like to pay tribute to fans for their behaviour and cooperation over the weekend.
“Considering the volume of people we had on the streets arrests were no more than on a normal weekend.”
Indeed, there were so few incidents that a planned court sitting for 4pm yesterday was cancelled because of the lack of arrests.
The small number of incidents, mostly for public order, were dealt with by way of future court appearances while others were released on station bail.
Inspector McGonigle said the Gardai enjoyed a very good relationship with a number of stakeholders including the Donegal Motor Club and the Joint Policing Committee and this also contributed to a relatively incident-free weekend.
He paid particular tribute to local Letterkenny Garda Sergeant Eunan Walsh who he said did a huge amount of work before the event each year.
“Eunan has built up a great relationship with the organisers of most of the off-road events and these events took the sting out of any desire for public road incidents.
“He deserves a lot of credit for the success of the weekend along with the adequate resources we had to patrol the weekend,” added Inspector McGonigle.
