Gardaí clamp down over Donegal Rally weekend with 90 arrests and 45 cars seized

Gardaí have confirmed that 90 arrests were made and 45 cars were seized in the division over the weekend of the Donegal International Rally for various offences.

Across Donegal over the weekend, there were 51 public order incidents, dangerous driving incidents and 30 drink/drug driving related incidents.

Between Thursday to Monday inclusive. There was one arrest on Thursday, 17 arrests on Friday, 47 arrests on Saturday and 25 arrests on Sunday. 30 of these arrests were made in connection with drink/drug driving offences.

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“This is only an example of some of the incidents Gardaí dealt with over the course of the weekend,” Garda Gráinne Doherty of Letterkenny Garda station said. 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 & domestic and mental health-related calls.

“The Donegal International Rally drew big crowds into the County, most especially into Letterkenny. An extensive Policing Operation was in Place for the event, the public order Units were out on patrol each night, the Roads Policing Units were on patrol 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. We were also grateful to have the assistance of some of our 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. 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.

"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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