Fianna Fáil has vowed to set an “expedited” justice system for use during a national emergency. 

So far, 57 people have been arrested in connection to last year’s Dublin riots - but only a handful have been convicted. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Justice spokesperson and barrister Jim O’Callaghan compared the Irish justice system unfavourably to the one in Britain. 

“In the UK, there were riots at the beginning of August of this year,” he said. 

“By the end of August, about 190 people in the UK had been convicted and sentenced. 

“Then you look at Ireland and we had our riots on November 3rd, last year. 

“Up until recently, I’ve been aware of very few convictions.” 

'A real deterrent'

By August 30th, 796 people had been charged in England and Northern Ireland in connection to the riots and a further 570 had been brought before the courts. 

Many of them were given lengthy sentences and Deputy O’Callaghan believes that helped restore order to the streets.

“One of the reasons why the riots stopped in the UK and why there was a real deterrent to it was because very quickly after the riots, you could see that people were being brought before the courts, convicted and sentenced,” he said. 

“There was a response there that had the effect of deterring any future violence and riots. 

“Whereas in Ireland, I don’t think the public have really seen the fact that people have been convicted and there has been a consequence to their violence. 

“Unless you see a deterrent and a consequence to violence, you’re not really going to be actively deterring it.” 

A fire on Dublin's O'Connell Street during looting and rioting on 23/11/2023. Image: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Since 2020, Fine Gael’s Deputy Leader Helen McEntee has served as Justice Minister - alongside Fianna Fáil’s James Browne as the Department’s Minister of State. 

Deputy O’Callaghan said he was “not trying to make a political point out of it” but said reform is urgently needed. 

“One of the things we’ve included in our manifesto is that we would allow for what I’ve referred to as ‘nightingale’ or off-site temporary courts to provide emergency or acute capacity as needed for situations like this,” he said. 

“I do think the court system needs to be aware that when a national issue such as a riot takes place in one of our major cities, there needs to be an expedited response to that.”

Today, Gardaí arrested a further four people - three men and one child - in connection to the riots.

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Main image shows a bus and car on fire on O'Connell Street during the Dublin Riots. Image: PA Images / Alamy