A Sinn Féin TD was allegedly assaulted by joyriders yesterday as he returned home from his party's weekend ardfheis.
Aonghus Ó Snodaigh, the Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central, said that as he returned to his home in Ballyfermot at around 5pm yesterday, he was "nearly run off the road" by joyriders driving "extremely recklessly" around the area where he lives.
He said there are always a lot of young children out playing in the area.
"Concerned about the safety of not only my own children but also of the other kids on the road I challenged the occupants of one car to stop their activity but they sped off. I contacted the gardaí to alert them to the presence of joyriders in the area.
"I then approached the operator of an ice-cream van who was on the road at the time to warn him that up to four cars were being driven at speed around the area," Mr Ó Snodaigh said.
"It was while I was talking to this man that a second car came along. The car stopped because they couldn't get past the ice cream van. I approached the car to ask the occupants to stop because of the threat they posed to local children.
"It was then that one of the occupants got out of the car and punched me in the face. When other neighbours came out of their homes the joyriders left the area pursued by gardaí."
The TD said joyriding had become an "ongoing and potentially lethal" problem in Ballyfermot.
"Thankfully, yesterday evening it ended in nothing more than a bloodied nose for myself. And while I would like to congratulate the gardaí for their prompt response, I am still fearful that some young child is going to be tragically killed if we don't tackle this issue.
"Everybody - the community and the gardai - need to work together to bring an end to this scourge."
A Garda spokesman said he could not comment on individual cases. However, he confirmed that the Garda in Ballyfermot is investigating an alleged assault at Decies Road at around 5.45 p.m. yesterday.