AN INVESTIGATION IS under way after a fully-loaded submachine gun belonging to a member of An Garda Siochána was found in Dublin city centre.

The gun was handed in to Store Street garda station yesterday by a member of the public.

The gun is believed to have been an MP7, a compact submachine gun described by its manufacturer as being designed to “be carried like a handgun yet capable of rifle-like effectiveness”.

It was being used by a garda who was part of an armed unit involved in ongoing criminal investigations in Dublin. The incident did not involve personnel involved in the operations surrounding the royal visit.

The gun was in a bag in the boot of a car which was part of a convoy travelling at high speed through Dublin city centre when it fell out of the car. It is not clear whether the boot of the car had been closed properly or whether it malfunctioned.

The MP7 is used by gardaí who are part of the Special Detective Unit, the Emergency Response Unit and the Regional Support Units; however, it is understood that the gun was not one issued to the ERU, the highly-trained tactical unit of the gardaí.

An Garda Siochána said that an officer will look into what happened.

“A senior garda officer has been appointed to examine all the circumstances relating to an incident involving an armed unit in Dublin city centre today,” a spokesperson for An Garda Siochána said.

Additional reporting by Sinead O’Carroll