Garda in hospital after being slashed in face with garden trowel

A Garda was hospitalised after being slashed in the face with a garden trowel in Dundalk yesterday evening.

It happened as he attended to public order incidents in the Bakehouse Apartments.

He was brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, and man in his fifties was arrested.

Local councillor Ruairí Ó Murchú, who was in the area at the time, went down to the scene himself.

He said: "Well obviously it's absolutely frightening and beyond that unacceptable that a member of An Garda Síochána would be injured while carrying out their duty.

"Shortly afterwards, I went down to the scene. At that point two gardaí were protecting the area as a crime scene and they informed me that somebody had been injured. I didn't realise at that stage that it was a member of the Gardaí."

Mr Ó Murchú described it as a disgrace, saying: "As far as people on the street said, they were calling out to some sort of what people thought was a fight or a fracas in the area.

"So they were going about their business when one of them got seriously injured. It's unacceptable, it's not in any way okay."