Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A public order unit of 25 Garda members were on the scene immediately and there was a second public order unit. I know that the Garda Commissioner went through this and it is not for me to give the exact timelines but a second public order unit was there when a group had gathered at the Garden of Remembrance, which was relatively calm. As things started to escalate, resources were immediately brought in and called in. One did not just have the public order unit which had been called in but other gardaí, as I said, were doing all of this other work, ensuring that the streets were closed off and that it did not go beyond this area. There was a massive mobilisation of people in a very short space of time.

We have seen in recent times riots in other cities of a similar size to Dublin go on for two or three days. This had been stopped by 11 p.m. or 12 midnight that night.

Yes, it was very dangerous for a period of time and it was absolutely challenging for the gardaí but gardaí are to be commended on managing to contain it in such a small area and for bringing it under control within that timeframe. I know Deputy Ó Laoghaire has commended them, as have others, but this is not a situation which any of those Garda members, for the most part, have dealt with. Some dealt with the Love Ulster riot but even that was a different type of scenario and was very different from what we saw that Thursday.