Ireland: Second Dublin stabbing victim discharged from hospital

Another child involved in the stabbing incident outside a school in Dublin on Thursday has left hospital.

Three children and a school care assistant were injured in the knife attack, which was followed by hours of rioting in the city centre.

A six-year-old girl, who had head injuries, has now been discharged. A boy, five, was discharged on Friday.

A five-year-old girl remains in a critical condition in hospital along with the teaching assistant in her 30s.

Floral tributes have been left for the victims at the site near Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire primary school.

No arrests have yet been made in relation to the incident on Parnell Street, but Gardaí are not looking for anyone other than one suspect, a man in his 40s, who is currently in hospital.

He remains under guard.

However, 48 arrests have been made in the city since Thursday, following hours of rioting in the aftermath of the attack.

Vehicles were set on fire and shops looted in the disorder.

Police are trawling through 6,000 hours of CCTV riot footage.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris (right) meets officers outside Leinster house
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris (right) meets officers outside Leinster House, the Irish Parliament building, on Saturday

Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the most riot police in Irish history had been deployed to deal with the violence.

It was reported that she briefed fellow ministers that gardaí would be certain to arrest more individuals.

A high visibility policing plan is in place throughout the weekend, according to the minister, including the deployment of four public order units.

The dog unit and the mounted unit are also being deployed, and two water cannons are now available for use if required after a mutual aid request made to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

A bus and car on fire on O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre after violent scenes
A bus and car were set on fire on O’Connell Street on Thursday evening

Dublin city remained quiet on Saturday as thousands descended on the capital for Christmas shopping as well as a number of sporting events.

A small protest centred on immigration issues passed off without incident on O’Connell Street, with a heavy Garda presence visible across the city centre.

Two large sporting events planned for Saturday night are to go ahead, including a boxing match involving Bray boxer Katie Taylor at the Three Arena.

“I have allocated an additional €4.4m for the purchase of 95 extra Garda cars and vans by the end of this year,” a statement from Ms McEntee read.

“This includes 17 high visibility public order Garda vans which will be deployed in our towns and cities across the country to provide further reassurance for people, businesses and communities. It also includes 38 new fully electric patrol cars and 40 unmarked surveillance cars.

“This is in addition to 10 high visibility community policing vans which are currently being prepared for deployment.

“I want to again be clear that the thuggery we saw on Thursday will not be tolerated and, as minister for justice, An Garda Síochána, including Commissioner Harris, have my full support to maintain order. Those responsible will be brought to justice.”

Earlier on Friday, Ms McEntee defended the Garda’s response after Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of the largest opposition party Sinn Féin, said she had no confidence in either Ms McEntee or the head of the force, Drew Harris.

The Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar said he has confidence in Ms McEntee, his Fine Gael colleague, as does Tanaiste Micheál Martin, who added he also has confidence in Mr Harris.

“All of this is essentially an attack on the state and an attack on families, on workers and on our communities and society and we cannot tolerate that,” he said.