Gardaí are making “very good progress” to identify the people involved in a fight that led to the fatal stabbing of a man in Dublin at the weekend, the Minister for Justice has said.
A murder investigation is under way following the death of the man in Dublin city centre.
The man, aged in his 30s, has been named locally as Quam Babatunde.
The man, aged in his 30s, was found unresponsive with serious injuries by gardaí after emergency services were called to South Anne Street/Duke Lane Upper shortly after 3am on Saturday.
It is understood the incident started in a nightclub and spilled out on the street.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Jim O’Callaghan said that gardaí are attempting to track down the individuals involved through CCTV footage from the area.
He said that gardaí are making “good progress” in identifying those involved.
He also said that the victim was a Nigerian man who was in the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) system.
The Fianna Fáil minister added: “Facial recognition technology would be of great assistance to the gardaí and would speed up the process of investigation, and that’s why I’m hoping the opposition parties will support that legislation when I bring it into the Dáil.”
Mr O’Callaghan said he is seeking an update from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris about the level of Garda presence in the area in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“Listen, no matter what level of garda’s presence we have, let’s identify where responsibility for this rests. It rests on the outrageous, reckless individuals and criminal people who got involved in that type of public behaviour,” he added.
“I don’t think there could be a significant Garda presence on South Anne Street on that particular night. As you’ve indicated yourself, the row appeared to have started in a nightclub and spread out onto the street.
“Of course, the gardaí should have been there as quickly as possible. But in fairness to An Garda Síochána, I don’t think anyone could have expected at that time in the morning that there was going to be such violence on South Anne Street
An Garda Síochána are keeping me updated on the shocking incident which occurred early this morning on Dawson Street. Dubliners deserve to feel safe in our city. That’s a priority.
— Jim O'Callaghan TD (@OCallaghanJim) February 15, 2025
“It confirms and corroborates what I’m trying to achieve as we need greater garda visibility throughout the day and throughout the night, but primary responsibility rests on individuals who made a decision to commit violent acts on our streets.
“You’re not allowed to do that, and the consequences of the law will come down very strongly on you if you do that.”
He said there is an agreement between Government and opposition parties that more gardaí are needed on the public streets.
“I’m pleased to say when I was down on Store Street (Garda Station) on Friday, I emphasised that. But also what I was pleased to see more is that there were very few gardaí in Store Street Garda Station. They were out on the streets.
“We need to see more of them out there, but that requires a campaign to recruit more.
“There is no doubt we need to see more gardai. We’re in a lucky position in Ireland, where the public want to see more members An Garda Síochána on the streets. Some countries around the world, they don’t want to see their police force in certain areas.
“In Ireland, every community I go to, or any member of Dáil Éireann goes to, the call is for we want to see more gardaí, and it’s my priority to get more gardai visible on the streets.”
