The tactics used by Gardaí in Cork and Dublin over the weekend was a "necessary response", according to a representative body.
Shields and baton charges were used to deal with violence that erupted after large groups of young people gathered in Dublin.
A total of 55 arrests were made, 8 arrests in Cork on Sunday night, while the majority of arrests over the weekend were in the capital.
A number of Gardaí were injured and patrol cars were damaged.
Vice President of the Garda Representative Association, Brendan O'Connor, believes they reacted appropriately.
"The vast majority of people behaved themselves, complied with legislation and their obligations to behave appropriately, and our members engaged with people, spoke to them and defused a number of situations.
"Of course you're always going to have a small element that are intent on causing problems, and that's when we saw an escalation of the policing response that was required and necessary, but I think it was kept relatively under control."
