GARDAÍ FROM ACROSS the country have been called in to assist their colleagues in Dublin tonight.

It is understood that earlier today, officers in the Dublin Metropolitan Region called for assistance from several locations across the country, asking members to make their way to the capital to assist their stretched colleagues. 

Chief Superintendent Patrick McMenamin, DMR North Central, said no serious injuries were reported by gardaí and that the city is now calm and returning to normal. 

“This evening, significant levels of public disorder, criminal damage and violence was carried out by violent individuals in Dublin City Centre.

“This violence had nothing to do with the violent assault which occurred on Parnell Square this afternoon. It was gratuitous thuggery. Public transport was attacked, Garda vehicles were damaged and some commercial businesses were attacked,” he said.

The senior garda paid tribute to his colleagues for their efforts to deal with the serious unrest. 

“Thankfully, no serious injuries have been reported by the public as a result of tonight’s violence.

“Some of my colleagues were attacked and assaulted, thankfully none were seriously injured and I commend them all on their bravery to protect our community.

“An Garda Síochána responded to the evolving situation and over 400 members of An Garda Síochána remain on patrol in Dublin City Centre. Dublin City Centre is now calm and returning to normal and we will continue to monitor the situation.

“I want to thank the general public for their support this evening. The thoughts of all members of An Garda Síochána remain with the victims of the violent assault which occurred on Parnell Square earlier today,” he added. 

Meanwhile speaking on RTÉ Primetime tonight Brendan O’Connor, president of the Garda Representative Association, paid tribute to the gardaí responding to the violence in Dublin. 

“Hundreds if not 1,000s of gardaí are mobilising tonight from different parts of the country to make their way to our capital to assist in an initial response to restore calm or the streets of our capital city,” he said.

O’Connor raised concerns about recent training of gardaí and said that there was a need for a review of equipment to deal with incidents such as tonight’s in Dublin. He also said that gardaí became isolated in the city at different stages of the evening.

“Certainly what we’ll be looking at is the vulnerability of our members and the exposure and what were the command structures and the level of training and preparedness and whether we can learn something and look at individual circumstances of where members may have become isolated or detached.

“Again, we come back to the core issues that the GRA has been speaking about, and that is training and equipment. It’s our members who pay the price whenever there are deficiencies,” he said.