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

We also saw the largest mobilisation of our public order units, with more than 400 members of An Garda Síochána coming together to respond to these thugs. In a very short space of time, we saw these thugs being contained into a small part of our city centre. What we saw was devastating and not one of us ever imagined that we would witness what we witnessed, but the thugs were contained by gardaí. We saw other teams of gardaí protecting those who were trapped in their businesses and could not leave their workplaces. We saw gardaí protecting minority groups and those in international protection centres.

We saw the largest response and mobilisation of An Garda Síochána in response to this horrific event. We also saw members coming from across the country. I have a report from the Garda Commissioner outlining what happened and how he and his team responded. As part of that response, yes, it was about sending messages to people as quickly as possible. Part of that plan does include WhatsApp. How does one contact someone as quickly as possible? We also saw gardaí getting into their cars because they wanted to support their colleagues. The two are not mutually exclusive. We saw the best of An Garda Síochána coming together to protect our city and those in it, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.

See this speech in context