Political leaders have continued to condemn the violence that took place in Dublin yesterday after the abandoned Love Ulster parade.
The President, Mary McAleese, joined in the condemnation of the rioting. "The unnecessary violence which erupted in Dublin city centre is totally unacceptable," she said.
Earlier yesterday both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice spoke out against the actions of protesters, who fought running battles with gardai on O'Connell Street, the south quays and Nassau Street.
A line of about 40 riot police blocked the entrance to O'Connell Street as hundreds of youths pelted them with rocks, bottles and sticks. The officers slowly moved in in a bid to disperse the rioting crowds.
Rubble and barricades from construction work on O'Connell Street were set on fire as riot police forced the crowd further into the city centre.
The SDLP's Alex Attwood, who was in Dublin, urged all sides to speak out against the disorder, saying those who rioted were "deeply unrepresentative" of the people of Ireland.
"One of the hallmarks of modern Irish democracy must be tolerance when with views in which people differ. This standard must be held and held firmly to," he said. "That is the surest way to go and is the only way the people of Ireland wish to go."
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said that peace and diversity must win out over the "dark forces of sectarianism and intolerance". He called on Mr McDowell to review the security arrangements put in place for the parade.
"It is profoundly sad to hear that an opportunity to show tolerance and courtesy has been turned into a display of intolerant brute force and ignorance by a small minority," he said.
"I call on the Minister for Justice to answer for this fiasco, and to investigate and review the security arrangements that failed to uphold order on this occasion."