Officers used the mesh coverings 80 times on detainees in the first three months of the pandemic.
A review by the Policing Authority discovered nearly a quarter of detainees were batoned or maced as well as being hooded, while one person was left wearing it for more than five hours.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said the hoods have caused injuries and deaths in other jurisdictions, and have called for their use by gardaí to stop until there is a thorough examination of their safety and effectiveness.
This is dangerous equipment, the case for which is not proven.
“The justification was that this would be a short-term measure for the Covid crisis, but now already we’re having suggestions that this would be in regular usage,” said ICCL chief executive Liam Herrick.
“It is a dangerous use of force, a high-risk use of force, and we believe that – just as with batons or non-legal weapons – that there should be proper health and safety assessments before the public are exposed to a kit that could be dangerous for them.”
Mr Herrick described the use of the hoods as “reckless and hazardous”: “This is dangerous equipment, the case for which is not proven, and we feel that really we’ve called the guards to review the usage and to cease the usage until proper health and safety assessment has taken place.”
16,000 spit hoods were bought at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in the Republic.
An Garda Siochána is due to publish its own internal report on the hoods later this month.
