Irish police trawl thousands of hours of CCTV footage in probe into Dublin riots
Justice Minister Helen McEntee has insisted she will not resign following criticism of the police response to Thursday’s violence.
Police in Ireland are trawling through 6,000 hours of CCTV footage as a major investigation into riots in Dublin city centre continues.
The violence in the Irish capital on Thursday – which involved far-right elements and saw Garda cars, buses and trams set alight and shops looted and damaged – flared after a knife attack on three children and their care assistant outside a school in the north inner city.
There were a small number of arrests on Friday evening as gardai mounted a significant security operation around the O’Connell Street thoroughfare to avoid a repeat of the violent scenes from the night before.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee also told colleagues that officers are trawling 6,000 hours of CCTV footage and vowed that further arrests would follow the 34 already made.
She also insisted that the police force has all the resources necessary to keep people in Dublin safe over the weekend, including securing the use of two water cannons from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
She said: “If Sinn Fein wish to debate law and order, if Sinn Fein wish to debate how we can support the gardai, I have no problem in standing over Fine Gael’s record of law and order, Fine Gael’s record of supporting members of An Garda Siochana.
“I do not believe Sinn Fein can stand over their record.”
Damage to public infrastructure in Dublin from the disorder could cost tens of millions of euros to repair, Irish premier Leo Varadkar said.
He added that the knife attack and the violence which followed had brought “shame on Ireland”.
A five-year-old girl injured in the knife attack outside a school remained in a critical condition in hospital on Friday while the female care assistant, in her 30s, was in a serious condition.
Gardai said a man who sustained serious injuries at the scene is a person of interest in their investigation.
Politicians and police have hailed as heroes members of the public who intervened to halt the attacker at the scene on Parnell Square East, including a Brazilian Deliveroo driver.
