Mr D'Arcy has ignored calls to apologise to gardaí for the controversial comments.

The junior minister said the attack on Kevin Lunney should have been dealt with "sooner and better at that level" by senior gardaí.

“We did have sustained attacks against us, there were a number of incidents that were allowed go unchecked – the incitement to hatred at a public meeting, the posters defaming us and face to face threats.”

The visit comes in the wake of the assault of Kevin Lunney, which Mr Varadkar described as "barbaric".

A Minister of State has said that senior gardaí on the border let down directors at Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH).

Brendan Smith, a Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan, says a special police taskforce is needed for the border region.

Police believe computers, phones and documentation seized from a “safe house” used by the suspected orchestrator of the abduction of Kevin Lunney could have “significant potential” in unearthing evidence.

The Government has been accused of failing to deal with a serious lack of resources in border areas following the brutal attack on Quinn executive Kevin Lunney.

He called for a cross border agency to tackle the gang bosses, who, he said, were turning the border county into a “no go area” for business and investors.

The brother of Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) executive Kevin Lunney has told of his horror and anger at hearing details of the assault as revealed in a BBC interview on Tuesday night.

The CEO of Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), Liam McCaffrey has said that he takes a degree of comfort from his meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on Tuesday.

DURING the week, two executives of Quinn Industrial Holdings said the border region was “perilously close” to becoming lawless. During the Troubles, the region was pretty lawless, or so it appeared when novelist Colm Toibin met Seán Quinn in 1987.

John McCartin, one of the QIH directors, said the latest threat did not come as a surprise.

Threats against the directors of Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) are "being taken very seriously at the highest level", according to the company's CEO.

The chief executive at Quinn Industrial Holdings, Liam McCaffrey, has said he and his fellow directors have been heartened by the support of customers, staff and the community following receipt of a second death threat this week.

The threat follows last month's abduction and torture of Quinn director Kevin Lunney, who is still recovering from his injuries.

A campaign of intimidation against executives at Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) has not ended despite public outrage and increased security following a savage attack on the company’s chief operations officer last month.

The downgrading of a key garda station along the border between Cavan and Fermanagh has resulted in police being unable to provide an effective service, frontline gardaí have said.

Gardaí investigating the assault on Kevin Lunnery have announced that they have completed their search today in the Ballinagh area of Cavan.

Gardaí are cautioning that it could take some time before the results of their forensic examination of the suspected torture site of company executive Kevin Lunney become known.

Gardaí are forensically examining a container in rural Co Cavan that may have been where company executive Kevin Lunney was beaten and tortured.

Quinn staff have offered their 'unequivocal support' for the 'highly respected' executive and his family.

The Taoiseach has branded the abduction and beating of businessman Kevin Lunney as “cowardly and brutal”.

Kevin Lunney, 50, was abducted and “brutally” beaten and dumped 22 miles away before he was rescued by a passerby who called emergency services.

Construction products and packing group, Quinn Industrial Holdings is seeking to expand into the ready-mix concrete market to tap the building boom in the Dublin area and is open to making acquisitions if opportunities arise.

Seeking an injunction requiring Facebook to remove one of its pages is like taking legal action against a brick wall holding up an advertising poster, the High Court has heard.