Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted Ireland is a safe country following the murder of a teenager and a number of violent crimes in recent days.
The upcoming General Election has seen a renewed focus on crime after the brutal killing of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods.
The teenager was murdered and his body was dismembered and left in various locations in Dublin.
Student Cameron Blair was stabbed at a house party in Cork city on Thursday night and two men were injured following a shooting in Dublin on Friday.
In a separate incident, two men were injured following a shooting outside a pub in Co Clare in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Micheal Martin, leader of opposition party Fianna Fail, claimed on Friday that the government is "losing control" of crime in the country.
The Taoiseach defended Fine Gael's record on tackling crime and insisted Ireland is safe when he spoke to out yesterday.
He said: "Ireland is a country that is safe. Ireland is a country that thankfully relative to other countries has a relatively low crime rate and a relatively low murder rate.
"That doesn't detract in any way from the seriousness of the crimes that we have witnessed in the last number of days which are unspeakable and are appalling.
"Our responsibility as a government working with the gardai and others to bring those people who has committed those crimes to justice."
