Thursday’s events in Dublin, however, have cast a shadow over the entire country.

As news began to emerge from the capital on Thursday afternoon, those bare details were enough to chill the blood: Three children and a woman were taken to hospital, having been attacked outside a creche on Parnell Square in Dublin city centre. A man was also taken to hospital, where he was due to be questioned in connection with the attack.

One of the children was soon released, but the woman and one of the other children are understood to have serious injuries.

Such an attack is difficult to comprehend. It can hardly be described as a parent’s worst nightmare — what nightmare encompasses the prospect of children being stabbed on the street?

Yesterday’s narrative also provided a news story with unsettling echoes of similar attacks which have taken place across Europe. In June this year, several children were injured when attacked in a playground in Annecy, southeast France, for instance, and a Garda spokesman was swift to rule out terrorism as a factor in Thursday’s attack.

The terrible events in Parnell Square had depressingly familiar consequences, with riots on Thursday night.

These scenes were the result of far-right agitators seeking to exploit a shocking attack for their own ends, with a mob taking to the streets to confront gardaí.

Thursday night saw gardaí being punched, kicked, and having fireworks thrown at them, and a Garda car was set alight, as well as several other vehicles.

These people are no friends to the victims of the attack. They neither speak for them nor stand with them. Their actions, though the actions of few, are orchestrated to create an atmosphere of even greater fear and anxiety, in a city already shaken by children being stabbed outside a school.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was absolutely correct in identifying the rioting as the work of a “hooligan faction, driven by far-right ideology”.

Harris also asked people not to listen to misinformation circulating on social media, though that seems a vain wish.

Those seeking to manipulate this horrifying event for their own ends are keener on amplifying wild rumours and looting sports shops than expressing traditional Irish values, such as concern for one’s neighbours.

Ireland must stay strong to those values in the next few days. Be wary of those offering their tuppence worth, particularly on social media, where well-meaning values are in scant supply. We should wish the victims of Thursday’s attack a speedy recovery and trust that the perpetrator is brought to justice.

Neutrality key to our identity

Earlier this week, Tánaiste and Defence Minister Micheál Martin announced plans to dismantle the triple lock system applied to the Irish Defence Forces’ overseas deployments.

The triple lock consists of Government sign-off on deployment as a first step, while the second is Dáil approval for that deployment. The third step is the mandate for deployment from the UN Security Council.

The plans have provoked a sharp response, with many voicing disapproval of what they perceive as a watering-down of Irish neutrality.

The response goes beyond what might be expected as the usual political theatre which accompanies major Government initiatives. That is because of the fundamental attachment to neutrality as a cornerstone of Irish political identity.

Not many people would point to our corporate tax regime or renewable energy policy as intrinsically Irish, but neutrality is different. It is a commitment everyone grasps on an individual level, while also conferring a general diplomatic benefit on Ireland; being identified as neutral confers an international reputation as fair dealers on Ireland, the very definition of soft power.

Anything interpreted as diluting that neutrality, therefore, is viewed with immediate suspicion.

One can point to President Michael D Higgins’ criticism of the consultative forum on neutrality, organised by the Government earlier this year, criticism for which he
eventually had to apologise.

However, the Tánaiste made a telling point when he pointed out that one key element of the triple lock does not appear to be fit for purpose. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine looks tailor-made for United Nations intervention — a peacekeeping force in Eastern Europe could have helped to broker some form of resolution.

As the Tánaiste said, however: “For reasons that we all know, the council has not even issued a statement on the issue, never mind agreed on a resolution.”

This is because Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, is hardly going to approve a peacekeeping mission being sent to a conflict it has initiated.

Hence the Security Council’s effective veto over Ireland’s deployment of its own Defence Forces. This can obviously be interpreted as an impingement on our independence.

The obvious retort is that if the UN’s protocols need amendment then that is a matter for the UN to remedy, and if those protocols compromise Ireland’s freedom to act as a
sovereign nation then they need urgent attention.

However, the Tánaiste also referred to having the freedom — without the triple lock — of joining multilateral missions run by the EU.

Even in a world with ever-changing challenges and unexpected enemies, that possibility will need further explanation.