In 2023, Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne said the public wanted to see rioters receive “a good, honest, decent beating” from Gardaí in the aftermath of the Dublin riots.
Speaking in the Seanad on November 29th 2023 to then-Justice Minister Helen McEntee, Kyne said many people across the country supported the use of force against those involved in the disorder, adding: “I will be blunt about it.”
The Senator made the remarks during a debate on public order measures following the riots which broke out in Dublin city centre days earlier.
“The majority of people whom I have spoken to from around the country who witnessed the scenes on our streets, on television screens and on social media – they are fully in support of the Gardaí,” Kyne said.
“They feel the only response the people involved in this sort of criminality and rioting understand is a good, honest, decent beating. I will be blunt about it – you probably cannot say that but I will be blunt.”
Kyne went on to say that people wanted Gardaí to feel protected when using force during riots and serious public disorder incidents.
“That’s what people want to see,” he continued.
“That gardaí have the powers and to know they will be safe in using a baton to attack individuals who are involved in rioting and criminality.
“We can talk all we like about reasons and everything else. But there is absolutely no excuse for what we saw. People deserve to know that An Garda Síochána can use the powers they have to treat rioters and those involved in such incidents with force.”
The riots occurred after the stabbing of three young children and a care worker outside a school in Dublin city centre. The case around that incident remains ongoing.
Large scale disorder later broke out in the capital in the immediate aftermath, with clashes between rioters and Gardaí, public transport vehicles set alight, and damage caused to shops and other property in the city centre.
Kyne is currently running for the Dáil in the Galway West by-election, where he is regarded as one of the leading candidates in the race.
An IPSOS B&A poll conducted for TG4 and The Irish Times last week placed Kyne on 17% first preference support, narrowly ahead of Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas on 16%.
The same poll showed Labou’rs Helen Ogbu on 12%, while Fianna Fáil candidate Cillian Keane, Sinn Féin candidate Mark Lohan, and Independent candidate Sheila Garrity were polling on 8%, 7%, and 3% respectively.
The Galway West by-election comes amid heightened political focus on law and order issues, immigration, and more, which have remained prominent topics in Irish political debate since the Dublin riots of late 2023.