Issue Date: 24/02/2026
From 9th to 12th February 2026 An Garda Síochána participated in a Europol led exercise designed to enhance cross-border cooperation and interoperability among European law enforcement authorities.
An Garda Síochána played a major part in the ‘Operation Shamrock’ element of this European exercise involving 12 EU Member States.
‘Operation Shamrock’ scenario involved individuals, acting as International drugs smugglers, travelling from Ireland to the continent, and working with European partners to track and monitor their movements. The targets travelled from Dublin to Amsterdam, staying overnight in Rotterdam and returning through Cherbourg to Dublin.
The movements of the targets were monitored by surveillance teams from Ireland, Netherlands and France.
In Dublin, a planned rendezvous with other members of the criminal organisation was monitored. Land and maritime interventions took place-involving resources from An Garda Síochána Special Tactics and Operations Command (STOC) Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and other Garda National Units demonstrating a wide range of skills and capabilities including Sniper, Abseiling, Land, Maritime and Canine capacities.
A second exercise ‘Operation Cargill’ ran in parallel targeting individuals suspected of planning coordinated attacks on critical infrastructure across several countries in Europe, testing and demonstrating European capacity to monitor multiple criminal interdictions across multiple jurisdictions.
‘Allies 2026’ exercise was successful in combining Europe wide expertise from the ATLAS Network, European Surveillance Group (ESG) and In-Flight Security Officer Network (EIFS).
Ireland, An Garda Síochána, played an integral role in these international exercises involving Europol and Police and Security service from Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia.
