Sinn Fein's call for toughened law-and-order in Dublin 'would be laughable if it were not so serious' says DUP MP Ian Paisley

The children whom he stabbed were all aged either five or six, and one five-year-old girl is still in a serious condition in hospital.

Mr Varadkar noted that this girl’s parents were themselves immigrants, as were four of the “five or six people who intervened to stop the attack”.

The stabbing suspect, in his 40s, meanwhile remains “in a serious condition” under police guard in The Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Coming so soon after the conviction of Jozef Puska – a Slovak national of Roma descent who was living off disability benefits in Offaly – for the strangulation and stabbing murder of random 23-year-old Ashling Murphy, news of the stabbing has sparked a debate about immigration in the Republic of Ireland.

In the Dail yesterday politicians from the country’s main parties responded by extolling the benefits of immigration and decrying what they saw as the rise of the “far right”, with one TD being shouted down when he raised the issue of anti-immigration public sentiment.

In her own address to the Dail, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald – who was heckled by members of the public over her pro-immigration stance after a constituency meeting on Monday – renewed her criticism of Garda chief Drew Harris, a former RUC officer and PSNI deputy chief (and whose father, also a policeman, was murdered by the IRA).

• ‘SINN FEIN EYEING JUSTICE ROLE’

“How have things gotten so bad that young children are in danger outside their school in the middle of the day?” asked Ms McDonald.

"In time we will learn the story behind all of this. But the reality is that Dublin city centre hasn't been safe for some time.

"Anti-social behaviour, open drug-dealing and drug-taking, street drinking, gangs hanging around causing trouble – and this shouldn't be news to you taoiseach.

"What happened in the aftermath of the horrific knife attack [the rioting] was deplorable shameful and criminal… The idea that this violence couldn't be predicted is a nonsense. This situation has been building for months…

"A strong policing response was needed, leadership was needed, but instead brave gardai were left high and dry.

"I've full confidence in An Garda Siochana. I've zero confidence in the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice [Helen McEntee].”

Mr Varadkar responded that the number of Gardai is being increased, as is the number of jail spaces, and that both the police chief and minister have his “full confidence”.

Ms McDonald has previously defended the IRA’s 30-year reign of violence, saying in 2020: “I wish it hadn’t happened, but it was a justified campaign.”

In response DUP MP Ian Paisley said her comments about Drew Harris were “very disappointing” and that “if it wasn’t so serious it would be laughable how dual-faced this organisation is – as Billy would say in Belfast, it has more faces than the Albert Clock”.

Ms McDonald’s comments are part of a pattern of Sinn Fein appearing to “distance themselves” from the “very bloody and violent criminal recent past”, he said, adding: “I’ve certainly picked up in recent months and weeks their desire to probably claim a stake to the Department of Justice once the Irish elections take place.

“They always have an agenda on these matters, no matter how cynical it is.

"I think it only washes with the most naive of people: most will see straight through them.”

• SOLUTION IS TO ‘TACKLE THE FAR RIGHT’:

Mr Varadkar condemned Thursday’s street disorder as an “ugly far-right protest on our streets led to a riot”, and that the violence in part was fuelled by “the language some people have used in Leinster House and beyond it in relation to migration”.

He told the Dail: “I want to make the case for migration and why it is a good thing for Ireland….

“Anybody who is an EU or EEA citizen has a right to live, work, study and do business in this country, just as we can in all of their countries too.

“That is what it means to be part of the European Union. I think the advantages of that outweigh the disadvantages manifold.”

Particularly vocal on the subject was Labour leader Ivana Bacik, who said of the rioting in Dublin: “We know what is needed, and that is a stronger response against the far right and, crucially, more gardai.

"[We need] to see a real commitment from government to tackling and targeting the far right and ensuring intelligence-led policing is taking it on.”

When independent TD Michael Lowry raised the issue of public objections to immigration (after condemning the rioting), members of the Dail audibly voiced their disquiet.

“Recently in the Dail I addressed the Taoiseach on the resentment that is simmering in towns and villages across Ireland,” he said.

"This genuine and heartfelt anger is not coming from organised factions; it is coming from ordinary people.

"People are filled with pent-up worry, fear and frustration at how their communities have changed due to the influx of international protection applicants. It has reached the stage where people...”

He was then stopped in his tracks by heckling from others, until the chairman intervened to restore order.