Main pic: The Garda Public Order Unit van in Letterkenny during the Donegal International Rally.
Gardaí have confirmed they made 90 arrests and seized 45 cars around the county during last weekend’s Donegal International Rally.
The number arrested, between Thursday and Sunday, was down from 103 for last year’s event.
Garda Grainne Doherty confirmed there was one arrest on Thursday, 17 on Friday, 47 on Saturday and 25 on Sunday.
Thirty of these arrests were made in connection with drink/drug driving offences.
A sample breakdown for offences is as follows:
– 51 Public Order incidents.
– 12 Dangerous Driving incidents.
– 30 Drink/Drug Driving related incidents.
– 45 vehicles were seized
Gardaí also dealt with many other types of incidents such as alleged assaults, drug searches and detections, road traffic collisions, criminal damage incidents, burglaries, thefts and domestic and mental health related calls.
The rally drew huge crowds into the county, the vast majority descending on Letterkenny.
An extensive policing operation was in place for the event with the public order units out on patrol each night while the Roads Policing Units were out day and night and they were operating checkpoints and speed checks. Motorcyclists were out patrolling and regular uniformed Garda members were out on the beat and on bikes conducting patrols as well as responding to regular calls. The Garda Helicopter was around over the weekend also to assist as was a detector dog with the Revenue Customs Service. Gardaí also had the assistance of some Reserve Garda members over the weekend.
“We would like to thank everybody who came to Donegal at the weekend and who complied with the law,” Garda Grainne Doherty said.
“The vast majority of the visitors to the county were a pleasure to deal with but, as always, there is a cohort of people who arrive every year for rally weekend with no intention of abiding by any rules,” she added.
“Thankfully these people are very much in the minority, and we wish to stress that. For the most part, we enjoyed engaging with the many visitors to the county in the lovely sunshine at the weekend and we look forward to doing it all again in 2026.”
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