Yesterday evening, the Garda Press Office issued a notice to the media notifying them of a briefing on the progress of the “ongoing Criminal Investigation into the Serious Public Disorder that occurred in Dublin City Centre on November 23, 2023.” They have also issued new CCTV photographs of “people of interest” in connection with the disturbances.
Gript’s Ben Scallan attended the briefing this morning and posed the question as to why the Gardaí are able to provide such updates in contrast to their not having made public any of their findings or intelligence regarding what had provoked the vicious attack on the school which took place earlier that day.
In addition to the Gardaí’s press briefing, the focus of most media reports this week is largely on the riots rather than the violent stabbing of school children and their class assistant at a Gaelscoil in Parnell Square – an unprecedented event which preceded the disorder.
The riots and looting on that date resulted in criminal damage that ran into costs of several low millions and were the worst that had taken place in Dublin for generations. Dozens of arrests were made that night and in the succeeding days and weeks and four more individuals were arrested yesterday bringing the total to 57.
Also, yesterday a man pleaded guilty in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to taking part in violent incidents that evening including the burning of a Garda vehicle. He is to be sentenced tomorrow.
It would appear from the court reports that there was a strong opportunistic motive on the part of many who took part in the riots, and that many of those arrested and charged had previous convictions for various public order and other offences. At the press briefing, a Garda spokesperson agreed with Ben Scallan’s suggestion that the majority of the participants were opportunistic.
What is also apparent, however, is that the riot and looting were directly connected to an earlier incident in the city centre when three children attending Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square were stabbed.
One of the victims, a five year old girl, was in a critical condition and was only released from hospital at the end of August after being hospitalised for 281 days.
The person charged with the attack was 50-year-old Algerian born Riad Bouchaker who had been granted Irish citizenship at some point. Bouchaker’s last court appearance was in February when he was sent forward for trial at the Central Criminal Court. He remains in custody and the trial has not yet begun although the book of evidence was served in February.
References to the stabbing, other than the reports of the girl’s release from hospital, are few and far between in Irish media coverage of the events of November 23rd. There are obviously sensitivities involved in a case which has not yet come to trial, but the contrast between the relative silence on the actual attack and the regular and extensive covering of the riots and their aftermath is striking.
Gript, as no doubt do other media outlets, receives regular queries with regard to the case, and particularly concerning the well-being of the victims and their families. There is also some confusion evident in some queries regarding the time it has taken to bring Bouchaker to trial even though it was reported in February that he would appear again before the end of that court term in April.
For some it seems that the stabbings have been expunged from the collective memory of November 23. A current video featuring Harry McGee of the Irish Times refers to the possibility that “something similar” to the riots might take place during the election campaign. He makes no reference at all to what precipitated the criminal outbreak.
Whatever about the large-scale criminal activity that took place last November the notion that it was somehow pre-planned by the “far right” lacks credibility. No doubt there were persons, particularly on social media, who used the attack as an opportunity to call for protests and in some cases were not particular regarding the form such protests might have taken.
There is no evidence, however, that the riots and the opportunistic looting were pre-planned and indeed how could they plausibly have been given that the later events of November 23 began as a spontaneous reaction to the attack at the school.
The vast majority of people who turned up that afternoon had left before nightfall and the numbers involved in the rioting and looting were augmented, as the court reports themselves show, by people who arrived into the city centre, some of them from quite considerable distances away, to take part. There has been little or no evidence that most of those charged had any political connection or motivation for being there.
At the press briefing today, the Gardaí stated that they were not as concerned as some others about the prospect for any similar incidents. They operate on available intelligence and presumably there is none to lead anyone to believe that such an event might take place during the election campaign.
No more than there was an indication a year ago before the stabbings and subsequent riots on November 23 – which would indicate that despite some dire warnings – and perhaps hope – there is no sinister “far right” violent conspiracy waiting in the shadows to unleash mayhem. Unrelated, of course, to any events which may have contributed to the one last year but which are barely referenced not just in this case but in others where a crime is thought best to be downplayed for various reasons.