The teenage daughter of outgoing Fine Gael TD Mr Gay Mitchell was violently attacked on a Dublin city-centre street last week, it emerged yesterday.
The 18-year-old was on her way home from school, after coffee with friends, when she was "beaten, kicked and headbutted" in a random attack.
Her father yesterday spoke of the incident when he called for a tougher policy on street crime.
He said the Fianna Fáil/PD Government's promise of zero tolerance on crime had turned into zero action.
Mr Mitchell told a press conference in Dublin that his daughter, whom he didn't want named, was badly bruised in the face after the attack. She had, however, made a full recovery and was now back at school.
He said his daughter's attackers were a group of young boys and girls, who had made off with his daughter's mobile phone after beating her up.
Gardaí are investigating the incident and are examining CCTV footage from the area, he said.
He pointed out that the attack was by no means unusual.
A recent survey conducted by his office showed 85 per cent of people felt unsafe in the city centre at night and 55 per cent felt unsafe even in daylight.