by Louise Doyle

PUBLIC order accounted for the highest number of incidents during Donegal International Rally at the weekend.

Gardaí made 90 arrests in Donegal Division from Thursday to Monday inclusive, with public order the highest number of incidents (51).

There were 30 drink/drug driving related incidents, 45 vehicles were seized over the weekend, and 12 dangerous driving incidents, according to garda figures released today.

The majority of the arrests (47) were made on Saturday. Twenty-five people were arrested on Sunday, while 17 arrests were made on Friday. Gardaí arrested one person on Thursday.

The number of arrests are down slightly on last year, when 103 people were arrested over the course of the popular annual event in the sporting calendar.

Gardaí have said they also dealt with many other types of incidents over the course of the rally weekend, including alleged assaults, drug searches and detections, road traffic collisions, criminal damage incidents, burglaries, thefts and domestic and mental health related calls.

An extensive Policing Operation was in place for the event, which included the garda helicopter and a detector dog with Revenue Customs Service.

Public Order Units were also on patrol each night, an the Roads Policing Units were out in force operating checkpoints and speed checks. Local gardaí were also assisted by reserve garda members over the weekend.

The popular annual event in the sporting calendar drew big crowds to the county, especially into Letterkenny. The spokesperson said most people 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.”