The Garda Commissioner has said there is a policing plan in place to deal with protests and blockades at migrant centres but that the gardaí are not going to fall into a trap by over-reacting.
Drew Harris said they had be to careful they do not act out the far-right playbook by creating a well of ill feeling in communities where migrants seeking international protection are being settled.
Minister for Justice Simon Harris has described the actions in Santry in Dublin over the weekend as "abhorrent" and said a small number of individuals were hijacking the Irish flag.
A blockade in Clare has now been lifted but a blockade has now been put in place at Santry in Dublin where the Government also plans to house migrants seeking international protection.
A small group of masked men stopped taxis and buses entering the Airways Industrial Estate over the weekend.
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Minister Harris described the actions as reprehensible, abhorrent and unacceptable.
He said the Irish flag was being hijacked by a small group of people who do not speak for this country.
The Garda Commissioner said the situation in Clare had been managed successfully and that there was now a garda presence in Santry, but he insisted the Gardaí were not going to fall into a classic far-right trap.
Mr Harris said there were two parts to the far-right playbook, to act on local fears and gather a crowd and then seek an over-reaction from the gardaí.
He said there was a long term policing strategy in place which involved local gardaí and the national specialist units.
The local garda were working with the communities while the Special Detective Unit was monitoring online and in-person known and persistent far right activists.
So far 11 people have been arrested, two have been charged and are before the courts.
Rise in number of International Protection applicants arriving in Ireland
The number of International Protection applicants arriving in Ireland is up on last month.
Figures obtained from the Department of Justice show that 609 people have applied for International Protection here so far this month.
April saw 633 new applicants in the whole month.
That was the lowest monthly arrival figure since January 2022, a month that saw 392 people seek International Protection here.
It was also down by more than half on a peak of 1,306 in January 2023.
The number applying for asylum this May also increased week on week, from 181 in the first week to 199 in the second, reaching 229 last week.
On the basis of these figures it is likely that over 800 people will apply for International Protection in May, which is closer to the figures we saw in February (833) and March (858) this year, but is still down substantially on last year's monthly average of 1,138.
Additional reporting Laura Fletcher
