Michael McDowell

Yes, I do.

But I start from reiterating my position that the planned closure of the oil depots and the blockades of roads and the like was illegal.

And insofar as it was organised, it was a very serious criminal offence to do so.

And, you know, the Gardaí should have

been aware that this was a possibility and should have acted more promptly to stop it from happening.

That's my first point.

The second thing is, you asked the question, Clare, should the government have acted differently?

It's been obvious for three or four weeks that there was a crisis in the Gulf, and in particular that there was a serious risk of massive increase in oil prices, no matter what particular mad option was chosen by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Israel.

And there should have been a contingency plan to deal with it.

And it does strike me, you know, that what was put forward at the beginning was too little, too late.

The government has a duty and has a very clear duty to cushion the Irish economy from excessive increases in energy prices.

And we had the ESRI report today, which you're going to be dealing with later on your program, which says that Ireland has one of the highest energy cost arrangements in the EU and would have the highest if it weren't for government cushioning measures.

So, you know, what emerged eventually, Clare, was what was necessary.

And it doesn't satisfy everybody, obviously, but it was what was necessary to mitigate the worst possible effects on the Irish economy.

And it's the government's duty to protect the Irish people from these kind of shocks and to anticipate them.

I mean, you wouldn't need to be a politician or have a huge state apparatus behind you.

to understand that there was a huge danger of a massive increase in energy prices arising out of what Donald Trump and Netanyahu were doing.

Well, I don't accept that the Defence Minister should have seen any different scenario.

I mean, if it came to towing heavy vehicles away from oil depots and from O'Connell Street and the like, the fact is that the only physical machinery in the hands of the state wasn't the Defence Forces.

So I'd be very surprised if she didn't volunteer the services of the Defence Forces to assist the Gaurati in upholding the basic law of the land.