29 September 2010 Last updated at 08:04 ET

'Toxic' truck driven at Leinster House gates

The truck was driven up to the gates at Leinster House.

A 41-year-old man has been arrested after a cement truck was driven up to the gates of the Irish parliament in Dublin on Wednesday morning.

The words "Anglo Toxic Bank" were written on the mixer, while its number plate said "bankrupt".

Anglo Irish Bank has become synonymous with the banking crash in the Irish Republic, requiring a government bail-out of billions of euros.

The truck was removed at about 0930 BST.

A police spokesperson said the man was being questioned on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

A spokesperson for the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas, said: "Access arrangements are now back to normal and there will be no disruption to the proceedings or workings of the Houses Oireachtas today."

Fine Gael TD, Fergus O'Dowd, who had just arrived for work at Leinster House when the incident happened described it as a "very serious incident".

"As I understand it, at least one Garda (Irish police officer) or more had to jump out of the way of this truck," he said.

"If it happened to have been later in the morning, staff could have been killed, the public could have been killed.

"As I understand it, this person may have carried out an action like this somewhere else.

"I think the key point is, that it was an unusual and exceptional circumstance."