A "significant peace dividend" that was seen in Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement is over, a security analyst has said.
It comes as a man was arrested after the gates at Government Buildings were damaged in an apparent overnight ramming.
Gardaí said it happened around 2.30am on Dublin's Merrion Street Upper with at least three gates damaged.
Similar damage was also seen near the Department of Housing at Custom House Quay and Áras an Uachtaráin at the Phoenix Park.
Senator and Security Analyst Tom Clonan told The Hard Shoulder the attack on Government Buildings is a worrying development.
"I'd be very concerned about an attack like this," he said.
"It happened at approximately 2.30am and on a Thursday night/Friday morning [Dublin] is absolutely packed with people.
"Merrion Street does tend to be a little bit quieter but further up closer to Baggot Street you could have had people being injured, people looking for taxis on the footpath".
Damage to a gate outside Government Buildings in Dublin city centre, 2-8-24. Image: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ieSenator Clonan said questions need to be answered on how the attack at Government Buildings was stopped.
"The use of a van as weapon is something that was used by Islamic State-inspired attacks in London and elsewhere in Europe where vehicles are used to inflict damage on groups of people or attack places like the Houses of Westminster," he said.
"It's a serious incident and it'll be interesting in due course to find out the timeline - how long it took for this attack to be closed down?
"Did it stop because the van just simply cut out, or were measures put in place to apprehend him?"
Senator Clonan said it a worrying trend "in terms of politicians and the institutions of State being targeted by certain groups."
Damage to a gate near Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin's Phoenix Park, 2-8-24. Image: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ieSenator Clonan said Ireland needs to invest more in security.
"We've had a period now, post-the Good Friday Agreement, of a significant peace dividend," he said.
"Really that has come to an end and we need to seriously invest in policing, intelligence and then the broader defence spectrum.
"When you compare us with other jurisdictions, like our nearest neighbours in the UK, they have all of the metropolitan constabularies, they have border police, they have transport police, they have MI5.
"The Guards have to do everything [in Ireland]; they've to do border immigration, they've to do counter-terrorism intelligence.
"The Guards are the primary intelligence agency in the State.
"We do have a small military intelligence unit but it is very small and it doesn't do what other military intelligence [does]".
He said Gardaí are under-resourced "through no fault of their own".
'Rioters targeting Gardaí'
Senator Clonan said there is a difference between more recent unrest and the 'Love Ulster' protests seen back in 2006.
"What's different today with the rioting is that the rioters are actually targeting An Garda Síochána themselves," he said.
"I listened to their speeches very carefully when they were outside Leinster House last September.
"They're very explicit in saying that they're targeting politicians, they're targeting all of the institutions of State and An Garda Síochána who they regard as enforcers of a political consensus that they don't agree with.
"I don't think the answer to all of this is necessarily a policing response, although we are seriously under-invested in that regard".
Senator Clonan added that there needs to be a "whole of society, a whole of Government response."
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