No gardai as ‘intoxicated man’ lay on steps near Parnell Square school, TD says

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that Gardaí responded “immediately” to the incident at Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square on Tuesday afternoon

It was “almost a sick joke” that there was no Garda presence outside a school on Tuesday where three children and their carer were involved in a knife attack last week, a Dublin Central TD has said.

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon told the Dáil that when parents from Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire went to pick up their children there was a “person who was intoxicated and had urinated upon himself” sitting on steps just down from the school.

He told the Dáil: “There was not one garda present on Parnell Street today as they collected those kids from that school. That was 2:30pm, despite the fact that that school principal had been promised there would be a consistent Garda presence on that street over the next weeks and months.“What sort of callous disregard is that from the State towards those children, who have experienced the most incredible trauma that none of us could even comprehend, that that is what they experienced today? They deserve an apology. It is unforgivable.”