Mr. Drew Harris:

I thank committee members. This is an opportunity for me and my colleagues to speak about the shocking events in Dublin city centre last Thursday. As the Cathaoirleach said, our thoughts remain with the teacher and the three children and their families who were victims of the terrible knife attack, in particular those who remain seriously ill. Our investigation into this attack is progressing. We are not looking for any other suspect in relation to this crime. I want to thank the public for their assistance, on the day and subsequently, with our investigation and the support shown to the detectives leading on this matter.

It is terrible that a minority then corrupted the suffering of others in an attempt to further their own narrow-minded and vicious agenda. They should be truly ashamed for this and the destruction that was caused. An Garda Síochána is determined to bring them to justice and a second investigation is under way to do this. So far we have arrested 38 people and our investigation is being assisted by the retrieval of significant amounts of CCTV footage and reports and information from the public. All of this will enable us to prepare investigation files for the Director of Public Prosecutions. We want to do this in as expeditious a way as possible as some of these individuals are undoubtedly a danger to society. In addition, we have established a further strand of investigation under the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation into those who are suspected of inciting serious public order incidents or hatred via social media.

There has, understandably, been a large amount of commentary on the Garda response to the serious public order incident and the entire day. I pay tribute to the gardaí who so bravely and professionally put themselves in harm's way to protect the people of Dublin. I will set out a timeline of events so the committee is aware of the significant work undertaken in a relatively short period of time to restore order to the city after dealing with such an horrendous incident.

At approximately 1.30 p.m. the knife attack on the teacher and three children occurred. Garda resources were immediately deployed to the scene to maintain the cordon so the crime scene was preserved to enable the gathering of evidence for the investigation and reporting the matter to the DPP. We had to determine motive and appoint family liaison officers to deal with parents who were understandably distraught, as well as teachers and the local community who were also very distraught at this awful attack. In addition, a 25-strong Garda national public order unit was on site at approximately 2.15 p.m.

At approximately 3.35 p.m. there was a small spontaneous anti-immigration protest nearby at the Garden of Remembrance. This passed off without incident. At 4.30 p.m. a group blocked the Luas at the Parnell Street and O'Connell Street junction. This group grew and at 5.40 p.m. a larger group of about 200 people charged towards gardaí and attacked them physically and verbally. Garda vehicles were also damaged. In an extremely serious and unprecedented situation, some of this group sought to break through our outer cordon to the crime scene cordon but they were repelled by gardaí.

At around 6.30 p.m. fire attacks started on public transport and Garda vehicles. Criminal damage and looting began and gardaí had fireworks thrown and fired at them. At this time there was already a significant Garda presence in the city and by 7 p.m. further gardaí were arriving. The numbers involved in rioting had also grown considerably in this period of time. We estimate that approximately 500 people were engaged in some form of disorder. By approximately 8 p.m. the number of trained and equipped public order gardaí had grown to 250. This was ten-fold our original deployment and our largest ever public order deployment. They, together with 150 of their colleagues, supported by the dog unit, the mounted unit and air support unit, started to address the riotous groups in front of them.

While the intense violence was shocking and distressing, calm was being restored immediately as gardaí deployed. It was largely restored to the city centre by 10 p.m. and full order was restored by 11.30 p.m. While these were terrible events, it must be said that routine and necessary policing also continued throughout the rest of the Dublin metropolitan region. Thanks to great work by gardaí, all of the other emergency services, Dublin City Council, public transport companies and the business community, Dublin was back open for business the next morning. While I fully appreciate and recognise the hardship and damage caused by the extreme violence of these thugs on Thursday night last, other capital cities in Europe that have seen similar such disorder have also seen normal society shut down for days.

Having said this, it is very clear that we are now facing a different form of disorder than we have experienced before. An Garda Síochána must evolve our tactics and equipment to address this. We have started an operational debrief into our response to last Thursday's disorder, which is being led by Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary. On Saturday, I meet the four Garda associations to seek their immediate feedback. This was very valuable and there will be further engagement with the associations in the coming weeks. We will also work with the Policing Authority on its review.

We are already making changes. By late Thursday evening stronger incapacitant spray canisters were being deployed to public order units. By Friday evening we had two water cannons ready to deploy operationally. We will be adding to the 1,000 trained public order gardaí. This is in addition to the 100 gardaí we added to the public order unit in the Dublin metropolitan region during this year. We will be providing gardaí with stronger incapacitant spray and more personal safety equipment.

I will outline some of the measures we decided upon yesterday afternoon. The Garda senior leadership team, led by me and including assistant commissioners, the two deputy commissioners and executive directors, decided after discussion on a number of measures. These include the provision of stronger incapacitant spray to all gardaí. This stronger incapacitant spray is already being provided to the public order unit and is already supplied to the armed support unit and the ERU. This will be extended to all gardaí for their operational day-to-day equipment. Public order unit capability will be expanded with the provision of 200 Tasers for deployment to these units, subject to successful training and accreditation. Tasers are already provided to all firearm specialist areas, including the ERU, regional armed response units and the special detective unit.

I intend to submit a business case for the procurement of two water cannon. We want to increase the numbers trained and engaged in public order training. We are considering the addition of smaller round shields for public order units. This is part of our examination of tactics. We want to expand and enhance the public order fleet. This also is to enhance our tactics.

At the request of the Minister, and separate to the procurement of body-worn cameras, we want to run a separate proof-of-concept project involving the deployment of body-worn cameras in the Dublin city area.

These cameras will be used in conjunction with a code of practice developed in line with the digital recording Bill. This is a relatively quick technical solution and should make body-worn cameras available to city-centre gardaí in a shorter timeframe, hopefully during the first quarter of 2024. We also want to accelerate the expansion of the Garda dog unit, as provided for in budget 2024. In terms of further evidence gathering, we want to purchase hand-held video cameras for public order units and undertake an examination of our public order tactics to take into account the equipment we are going to purchase and train on. Additionally, there will be an increase in the number of Garda data scientists to support the identification and analysis of evidential material. As I said, an organisational debrief is now under way under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, so there may be further developments as we move forward. To provide public reassurance, since Thursday evening last, we have had four public order units deployed in Dublin city centre, along with high-visibility patrolling supported by specialist units, such as the dog, mounted, and air support units. This policing operation will continue throughout the Christmas period.

Again, there has been much commentary about An Garda Síochána’s approach to policing protests. I have been involved in many policing operations in extremely volatile situations; I know that at times the use of the full extent of our powers is required when all other options have been exhausted. When it comes to policing protests, we have a graduated response that balances the constitutional right to protest with protecting people and property, preventing breaches of the peace and preventing crimes being committed. Already this year, 50 people have been arrested following anti-migrant protests in the DMR and elsewhere. While files are with the DPP for decisions to be taken relating to some of the allegations of criminal activity, others are already before the courts.

It is our duty and, indeed, our obligation to confront such individuals. This requires a graduated response, with the use of force a last resort, but we have and will resort to the use of force to protect the public and ourselves as individuals. I thank the gardaí of all ranks who were on duty last Thursday and, indeed, many who were not but who returned to duty to help their colleagues and the public. They exemplify the very best of An Garda Síochána – professionalism, dedication and the commitment to put their own personal safety at risk to keep others safe. To conclude, I offer my sincere thanks to the people from Dublin and beyond who have shown their support for An Garda Síochána on the night, in very practical ways, and in the days following. My colleagues and I are happy to take any questions. I thank the committee.