Fionnán Sheahan

Talk me through this package.

John Downing doesn't...

They made the bags of it, but how?

Why and how was the government so badly caught out here?

They should have been more aware that this was coming.

The policing response was proportionate, but slow, too slow.

Their attempt to call in the army was really an absolute low point in their management of this situation.

We don't do that kind of thing.

We're not that type of society.

We're a small population.

And we have had civilian policing since the foundation of the state in far more difficult circumstances.

a number of unforced handling errors early on.

But I will say that this is to some degree unprecedented, the scale of it, and it was not easy.

There are few easy options in trying to manage these situations.

As we said consistently during the week, nobody has a right to blockade our country.

In this free democracy, there are many ways to make your point publicly, and our streets are regularly full of people exercising their rights.

But no self-appointed group has a right to prevent emergency services from operating normally, or delaying people going for cancer treatment, or to threaten the jobs and livelihoods of others.

So, Mary Regan, in terms of messaging to the public, we were told, oh, there is an initial package, but we'll keep it all under review.

Clearly, that message didn't get through.

We can follow up at a later stage.