Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has said the Government is in denial and is still not listening to concerns that Dublin city is not safe.
“We've seen public safety collapse. We've seen people endangered. We've seen gardaí isolated and assaulted. And we still have a Government that isn't listening. We still have a Government that is in denial.
"We still have Government ministers that won't acknowledge that Dublin city, that control was lost for a period of time for a number of hours,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
"It was not just the events of last Thursday that were a cause for concern, for four years business leaders had been warning because there were fewer gardaí, fewer Garda stations and communities did not feel safe", he added.
The people involved in the events of last Thursday night should face the full rigours of the law, but the Government was trying to deflect responsibility and the question of why this had happened, said Mr Doherty.
“This should not have been allowed to happen. Minister Helen McEntee and it seems her cabinet colleagues, are the only ones who didn't understand when this attack happened in Parnell Square that there were going to be serious issues.
“We knew, we could see it before our eyes. The agitators were agitating. They were calling people to the front lines. There were gathering the masses and the Government and the gardaí at a managerial level were completely unprepared for that. And what happened? It left our city as a no-go zone. It left gardaí completely isolated.”
Mr Doherty said that if Sinn Féin was in power they would ensure that the gardaí had the necessary resources to police Dublin city and to make sure there was a deterrent.
“We will make sure that 21st century policing and tactics are available to them.
“It's very clear to us that this Minister, who is in denial, is not the Minister to lead the type of reforms that we need, the type of support that we need for An Garda Síochána. Because this is the Minister who has overseen the reduction in numbers and the depletion of morale in relation to gardaí, and Drew Harris needs to resign if we're to have a fresh start.”
Language used
Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton has called for balanced political discourse and urged political representatives to be “careful” in the language they use when discussing the riots in Dublin city centre last Thursday night.
The different political parties needed to support the gardaí and provide the necessary resources. Every support must be given to ensure resources so that future planning and future policing can be put in place, she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
“It's very important that when we're discussing these issues, what happened last Thursday, there was incitement to violence, incitement to hate for political ends, people on social media drawing people into our city centre.
"I think the lines have been blurred here in some of the discourse around immigration. And we know that many of the people who went to the rescue of those children and their carer, many of them were migrants themselves.
“We need to make sure that the political discourse here is balanced and that, yes, we make sure that we can tackle these thugs and criminals who come into our city centre, who have absolutely nothing and no other objective other than to distract and create chaos, that they are taken and they're brought to justice.
"But we need, as elected representatives to make sure that we are consistent around our language. I just want to assure people around the resources here from Government, from Minister McEntee and as a whole of Government and in relation to tackling this and make sure that events of last Thursday do not happen again.
“Last Thursday was a dark day for our capital city and for the whole country. And I think we were all deeply shocked and appalled by the attack on three innocent children and their carer.
“This is a seminal moment for the country. And we need to ensure that we support our gardaí and not turn this into a political football. I think it's very strange that Opposition parties, who want to be in Government, want to undermine An Garda Siochana.
"I think it's important that we allow the Garda Commissioner to do his job at investigating crime and to do so in an independent manner. And we all need to be supporting the gardaí at this time.”
Ms Naughton acknowledged that lessons needed to be learned. “I know every everything that can be done will be done in relation to making sure that those who were engaged in that thuggery and criminal activity will be brought to justice.”
