A mouse that caused “mass panic”, a rodent with a taste for Milk Tray chocolate, and a small creature “gnawing” at walls were among the pest issues at Garda headquarters over the past year.
Copies of inspection reports from An Garda Síochána reveal how one mouse created bedlam at a Garda building in February of this year with monitoring stations set up to trap him.
“A live mouse is currently causing mass panic in the building opposite the Technical Bureau main entrance,” said an exterminator’s report.
In another report from last September, the facilities section logged what they believe to be a “rodent problem” in their offices.
“I have been hearing what is presumably a mouse gnawing at the walls,” said an incident form, “and now it seems to be trying to chew through the carpet tiles.”
An inspection found no evidence of rodent activity, however, with an exterminator climbing up to the attic with a mirror and torch in a vain attempt to locate the intruder.
A sweet-toothed raider was also reported at the buildings of Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) in Garda HQ in February, according to the reports that were released.
An inspection report noted: “Mice have eaten through [a] box of chocolates upstairs in Annex Building,” with an accompanying picture of the half-eaten treats.
A later report said there was a further incursion by mice into a drawer on the bottom floor of FSI’s annex building.
Another report said there was evidence of “mouse activity” in an annex building. Staff had been storing food in a drawer and the rodent had been “chewing” on it.
Other reports included the discovery of a dead Norwegian rat – otherwise known as rattus norvegicus – which appeared to have infiltrated an OPW hut on the Garda complex.
A report from March speculated that rodents might be using ivy that was growing up the outside of a building as a means of entry.
It added: “Deep cleaning of drawers and desktop in upstairs offices may need to be carried out.”
Later that month, a new inspection warned of the risk of a broken window at the back of the Officer’s Club saying it was a point of vulnerability for rodent raiders.
“[It was] replaced with mouse mesh to stop ingress of pests,” said the report.