The incident happened at about 1.30pm on Thursday outside a school, Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. Police said a five-year-old girl, a woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s sustained serious injuries. The girl was receiving emergency medical treatment. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl were treated for less severe injuries. The boy was discharged from hospital. We are particularly thinking of the five-year-old girl and the member of staff caring for her who are both in serious condition in hospital. All of our prayers are with each of them for a full recovery.” Higgins also said police deserve “all of our support in dealing with the incident”.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, presumably working late into the night, has said she wants to see people in prison following what has occurred in the capital. In a second garda briefing on the stabbings on Thursday evening, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the gardaí were not ruling anything out in relation to the stabbings. President’s statement The chief executive of Arnotts Donald McDonald echoed that anger in a statement in which he noted that the department store was a “very special place, made up of great people and throughout its 180-year history, Arnotts has not alone survived but thrived through tough times, emergencies and many crises”.Ms Kearney had not seen how seriously injured the little girl was. “I just seen the blood,” she said. While the preparatory school closed in the 1980s as demand for private primary education dwindled, parents successfully lobbied for a free all-Irish primary school to replace it. A witness, Siobhan Kearney said the scene was “absolutely bedlam” as she initially watched events unfold from the other side of the street. You could see the stabbing movements. It was frenzied. Someone passed me a little girl. She was hysterical...I passed her into the school. They said a girl had been stabbed.”

The child who was seriously injured is aged 5 years and is currently undergoing emergency medical treatment at Temple Street Hospital. There was incredible selflessness, the immediate instinct of everyone, including the carer and the staff and the school was to protect the children. According to authorities, Dublin city centre is now calm, but officers are still operating and monitoring the situation. I saw him stab the girl in the chest many times, that moment I could not see how bad it was because she was wearing a lot of clothes, and I couldn’t see blood. I took off my helmet to protect myself and use it as a weapon and I hit him in the head and then he fell on the ground.”Standing at the Luas stop was a man whose partner had given birth to a baby boy on Thursday. He shook his head as he took in what he was looking at. Merrion Street Lower / Clare Street, Holles Street, Mount Street Lower, Mount Street Upper / Fitzwilliam Street Lower, Merrion Street Upper

The incident took place outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square East as children were coming out of the school, which caters to primary-age children. A five-year-old girl was seriously hurt. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl sustained less serious wounds, and the boy has since been discharged from hospital. It’s our responsibility to make sure that we police the streets, and part of that is we ask people to act responsibly and not to listen to the misinformation and rumour that is circulating on social media.As a country we need to reclaim Ireland. We need to take it away from the cowerers who hide behind masks and try to terrify us with their violence,” Varadkar said. Clean up operation on the Luas line in Dublin city centre on Friday morning. Photograph: Conor Pope