When Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan initially told the news media that the Army would be deployed to remove vehicles obstructing roads and blocking ports as part of the protest against fuel prices, reactions among senior gardaí and Defence Forces personnel ranged from concern to confusion.

There was surprise and disbelief that a Minister for Justice could apparently be unaware of the sensitive, not to say dangerous, boundary that he was crossing, casting aside the protocols of more than a century since the establishment of An Garda Síochána and Óglaigh na hÉireann.

In fairness, what he said was the Army would “remove the vehicles”, without referring to the protesters. But in the circumstances it was a distinction without a difference. Protest organisers described it as a provocation and a threat. A more felicitous statement later sought to regain lost ground but he had given those orchestrating the disruption the stick they needed with which to beat Government.

Minister Helen McEntee, holding the Defence portfolio, seemed nonplussed by O’Callaghan’s announcement. Her annoyance was clear in her declining to confirm she had been consulted, adding delicately that processes at senior Government level could be “improved”.

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