Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy for Tras Honan's family.

I welcome the release of Emily Hand and all of the hostages who have been released so far. I hope we will all agree that what we need is a permanent ceasefire at this point in time. We need to be absolutely clear about that, and all remaining hostages must be released, both those held by Hamas and those held by the Israeli Government. We should never forget the women and children and men interned without charge in Israeli jails. They too are hostages. All of them should be released. People often ask me, when they look at the despair and horror of what has been inflicted on the Palestinians, what we can do. This evening, we can do a real good by going to the Gig for Gaza at the 3Arena. There will be some wonderful acts there including our own comrade, Frances Black, but also Lankum, Damien Dempsey, the Mary Wallopers and Lisa O'Neill. I am looking forward to going this evening. It is a fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians. I hope Senator McDowell will forgive me that I will not be around for the debate on the Oireachtas Library this evening. I just feel that is where I need to be tonight.

I want to refer briefly to the horrendous troubles of last week. I agree entirely with Senator Dooley that unfortunately, the Commissioner's position is now untenable. There is no question about that. Three days after the riots, on Sunday night, in the centre of Dublin, two pubs were accosted by a very dangerous man who was out of control and who attacked the bar staff. Both pubs rang for Garda assistance and no guards came. I am not blaming the Garda. We all know what this is about, the consistent lack of resources, the fact that we do not have enough gardaí on our streets. We can say that across all of our respective areas. It is certainly the case in Limerick. For that reason, I also have to say that the position of the Minister for Justice is also untenable. I know we are going to debate this tomorrow. I am citing what Fianna Fáil Senators have said off the record to journalists this week in terms of that fact. That image of her walking down Dublin city centre flanked by gardaí on either side has really come back to haunt her. The reality is that it has been a failure of the justice Ministry. There is no question about that now. Her position is untenable. We will have more to say about that tomorrow night but it is important to point it out.

I was going to talk about neutrality but I do not have time. I will come back to it tomorrow. I will formally call for a debate on the issue of the triple lock. The triple lock was part of the Seville declaration, which was absolutely central to the Nice referendum being passed the second time. That is the point. It was absolutely central to that referendum. The idea that Micheál Martin can just take it away without reference back to the people is entirely unacceptable and undemocratic. It does, of course, align Fianna Fáil once again with Fine Gael, its sister party. I certainly cannot see any difference between the parties these days.