There was "serious concern for public life" during violence seen in Citywest in Dublin last night, a journalist has told Behind the Story.
It comes after violent disturbances outside an accommodation centre for International Protection applicants in Dublin.
Around 2,000 people attended a protest in the Citywest area last night, but shortly afterwards, hooded and masked men threw missiles and fireworks at gardaí, vandalised a Luas stop and a garda van was set on fire.
One female garda was injured during the violence and six people were arrested.
Crime editor with The Irish Sun, Stephen Breen, said gardaí were prepared.
"I think they were expecting a protest to take place early yesterday morning - especially when you had various social media platforms encouraging people to go to Citywest," he said.
"The gardaí had made requests for the Garda Dog Unit and the Mounted Unit, so they must have ben expecting some kind of trouble".
Mr Breen said officers from Portlaoise, Wexford, Wicklow and Kildare also joined their colleagues at Citywest.
"I think it's very serious when you have the gardaí requesting assistance from colleagues around the country," he said.
"You have fireworks being used, missiles, Luas lines being damaged… you even had people using horses to try and break the garda cordon.
"There was a serious concern for public life and for the wellbeing for people at the [IPAS] centre".
It was the first time that An Garda Síochána deployed its own water cannon, which was purchased after the riots in Dublin city centre two years ago, but the water guns were not used.
Read more: Garda Commissioner warns of 'robust response' to violence
Mr Breen said he believes lessons have been learned in the intervening years.
"I think, obviously, the gardaí would have looked at that event in O’Connell Street [and] taken their different approaches this time," he said.
"I think they were just determined that we wouldn’t see the same levels of violence that we saw.
"I think it was important as well that, because they have two water canon now available to them, that’s another aspect they can use in trying to quell potential trouble in the future.
"They have learned lessons from the past and they can learn from last night as well".
'Social media is a weapon'
Mr Breen said organisers are using social media to gather in numbers.
"Social media is a weapon that they use, and they use various platforms and forms of social media," he explained.
"Once that takes hold, and once that message has been sent out, it goes viral, and people respond to that - and that’s what’s happened here" he added.
Fran and David also discuss a Serious Crime Review Team which is to look at the investigation into the death of Liam Farrell.
The Co Leitrim farmer was found dead in suspicious circumstances at his home over five years ago which has been previously covered by Prime Time.
The announcement has been welcomed by Mr Farrell’s family.
You can listen to Behind the Story which is available on the RTÉ Radio Player.
You can also find episodes on Apple here, or on Spotify here.
