Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will try to stick to my script in case I actually say something that might really offend somebody.

Many political leaders reacted to the horrific attack on the children last Thursday by saying it was a shock attack that no-one could have seen coming. Of course, this is untrue. Most of us with our heads not buried in the sand knew this was coming. Many Irish people have been unhappy with the state of affairs for some time. They have made their views known in dozens of peaceful protests and walks across the country. Hundreds and thousands of ordinary men, women and children have been using their voice in the only way they have available to them - by democratically and legally protesting and assembling. These people have no seat at the table. They do not have an ear for their ideologically captured political representatives. They do not sit on company boards or run highly funded NGOs. They have no master's degree in political science from Trinity College Dublin. They are just ordinary Irish families so, of course, the Government ignored them. However, when people are denied meaningful dialogue around concerns they know are reasonable, they are driven to unreasonableness. The explosion of unrest last week was the pressure release valve bursting. This Government has done everything in its power to craft and maintain a social environment where the discussion of its own failings in the area of immigration is taboo. It has been a marvellous piece of propaganda but the jig is up now. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no putting it back.