The mother of a man who was viciously assaulted by a group of youths at a Luas stop has said Gardaí failed to respond when he called for help.

The man suffered a broken jaw in the attack at the stop on the Suir Road just after 5 pm on Sunday, January 12th.

On the Pat Kenny Show this morning, his mother Anne O’Hara said he can’t eat solid food for six weeks and is on a range of painkillers and antibiotics.

She said the youths began intimidating her son’s wife while on the Luas and followed the couple off the tram when they reached their stop.

“When they got to the Suir Road stop, my son and wife got off Luas and one of the lads held the door open while others got off the Luas and attacked him from behind,” she said.

The Garda logo on a squad car.

She said the group got back on the tram after the assault and her daughter in law immediately phoned the Gardaí for help.

“After 20 minutes nobody showed up and they phoned back and said, ‘look we are going home; he needs to get home, here are the details this is the address can you call to the house?’” she said.

“Again nothing happened, they came home and just before 11pm they received a call from the Gardaí to say there was no car available.

“They said they might get out to them the next day but they would be better off going to the local garda station and giving a statement the following day.”

She said while they were waiting, Gardaí responded to reports of a gang of youths acting suspiciously at a car in the area within five minutes.“A car is worth more than a human life,” she said.

She said the couple was afraid to go to the hospital in case they missed Gardaí calling to the house and for fear of long waiting times in the Emergency room.

They eventually went to their GP on Monday morning and were referred into hospital.

“They found out that his jaw was broken; they had to remove some of his wisdom teeth and put in a steel plate,” she said.

“He can’t eat solid food for six weeks, he is on a liquid diet and he is on painkillers and antibiotics. It is very uncomfortable.

She said Gardaí eventually went to see her son in hospital and asked him to come into the station to make a statement, which he did over the weekend.

In a statement, Gardaí said they received the call on the Sunday afternoon and informed the couple that a unit would respond to the call as soon as possible.

“However, the caller was then informed that due to a number of serious calls in the system at that time the Garda unit would be delayed,” it said.

“An arrangement was then made with the caller and agreed that Gardaí would call to the injured party the following day.

“An investigation is now underway by the Gardaí at Kilmainham and the injured party has been updated regularly as to the status.”