This Thursday the 23rd of November, the people of Dublin faced a violent attack in their city centre, resulting in four people being seriously injured, two of whom were children under 7. 30 people were arrested on site, with further investigations being conducted. However, the question on what sparked this violence must be raised, especially with the Irish capital city being typically associated with peace and harmony.

That day around 1:30pm, a man stabbed three children and a care assistant in her 30s, who tried to shield the children. He was then disarmed by a member of the public and taken into custody by the police. However, after this incident, rumours on social media spread, claiming the perpetrator was an immigrant and had killed the children – which were discovered to be false. This led to agitators forming an anti-immigrant group to assemble at the crime scene and protest. At around 6pm, the demonstration became violent, and the crowd of up to 200 people began throwing bottles, fireworks and flares at the Irish police. The rioting charged from Parnell Square East through to O’Connell Street (Dublin’s main street), Capel Street and Parliament Street. During the peak of the riot, there were an estimated 500 people in the group. Several vehicles belonging to the Irish police and public transport were severely damaged, and shops were looted. In response, 400 officers were dispatched onto the scene, the largest deployment of armed officers in history in Dublin. By about 10pm the group had dispelled, and 34 arrests were made.

The Irish Times has described the group that started the attack as a ‘small hardcore group of far-right agitators’ and that “a priority is to bring to justice those ringleaders who sparked the violence”. Furthermore, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Ireland’s most senior police officer, stated that there had been an “element of radicalisation” to the riot. Recently, Ireland has seen a large increase in the number of immigrants entering the country to start a new life. A total of 141,600 people have arrived in Ireland this year leading up to April – a 31% increase compared to last year and a 16-year high. Due to this, some believe there has been an increase in far-right ideologies within the public about immigrants entering the country.

In response to these attacks, allegedly riled by anti-immigration beliefs, Ireland’s trade minister, Simon Coveney has promised to look into people’s concerns about housing for immigrants. However, Coveney denied that Ireland is going in a similar direction to other EU members, where more than one fifth of voters are in support of anti-immigrant political parties. Coveney said that most Irish people are in fact “very comfortable” with immigration in the country, as the government has emphasised the important contributions immigrants make to the country, especially in the healthcare sector where roughly 40% of doctors trained abroad.

This is not the first time Ireland has seen far-right groups whipping up hatred, as some groups have caused disruption to LGBT+ book events in libraries, and seized on high profile crimes committed by foreigners. Aoife Gallagher, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, has warned that Ireland does not have “a sense of complacency” because “as a country, we’re immune to this stuff.