It was clear that something was building in Dublin city centre throughout the day last Thursday – but the Gardaí were slow to react.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, host Ciara Kelly said she drove into town to pick up her daughter on Thursday afternoon because she felt there was serious trouble brewing.

Three Garda cars, buses and a Luas tram were set on fire after the riots broke out in the city – with some 34 people arrested and brought to court the following day.

The violence broke out after the horrific knife attack on three young children and a woman near a school on Parnell Square.

A car burns on Parnell Street as rioters cause chaos in Dublin city centre, 23-11-2023. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

Ciara said the Gardaí were slow to respond to the building violence in the city centre during the day.

“I do feel that we got it wrong,” she said.

“I mean, I think I was heading to Dublin before there were guards heading to Dublin.

“I decided - my daughter goes to college in the city centre - and I decided, I'm going to get her, this is dangerous, I don't like this.”

A car burns on Parnell Street as rioters cause chaos in Dublin city centre, 23-11-2023. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

Ciara said it was clear that something was building in the city centre from around 3pm.

“You could see it on social media,” she said.

“There were calls to arms - from gougers mostly - saying, ‘Get into town, we’re going to kick off,’ you know, ‘We're at war’ and all that kind of stuff.

“You could see it building. So, if I could see it and I went into town to pick up my daughter, why were the guards not there?”

“I mean, we're hearing that the Public Order Units were deployed at 7pm – it was already raging at that stage.

“We're hearing that the real call to arms where they literally sent out an appeal to any guard who was available anywhere to get to Dublin - and it wasn't like they were needed strategically, it was to protect your fellow colleagues because they are under so much pressure; it was a kind of a desperate plea - that was at 7:45pm.

“It was pitch dark at that stage and things were on fire, you know, buses were already burning.

“So, to me we were slow and I don't understand why. We saw what happened at the Dáil, we saw what was happening all that afternoon, I don't know why we were that slow.”

"I want to feel safe in my capital city." Ciara Kelly on the response by gardaí to the riots in Dublin city centre last week, on @NTBreakfast. pic.twitter.com/XBdr4Bp2OH

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) November 27, 2023

A burned Luas carriage in Dublin city centre following riots, 24/11/2023. Image: Leon Farrell / © RollingNews.ie

Ciara said there was a strong Garda presence in town on Saturday night – and she would like ot see that becoming the standard.

“They had public order [there], they had the vans out,” she said.

“They had one on the bottom of Grafton Street, one on the top and one on the bottom of O’Connell Street with the visible presence of an extra 100 guards in the street.

“There were guards standing outside the vans and around the vans.

“I would like to see that on a normal Saturday night in town. I've seen that in Barcelona. I've seen that in Paris. I've seen that in Madrid. I've seen that in Rome.

“I don't understand why we think that's exceptional.

“Why we think that our city, our capital, which does have a criminal element – why it shouldn't be policed in a visible and palpable way.”