Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Members who contributed to the Order of Business. All Members spoke about Tras Honan, her fantastic legacy and her contribution to this House. Our thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with her family. As I said at the outset, I will propose a motion on that at the end of the Order of Business. I thank Members for the lovely words and stories they recounted about her service. I interacted with her and her sister on a personal and work basis. I am sure we will have an opportunity at a later stage to have more full statements on her memory, hopefully with her family in attendance.

Senator Dooley spoke this morning, as did pretty much all other Senators, about what are being called "the Dublin riots", for want of a better phrase, or the events of last Thursday in our capital city. I agree with Senator Flynn that all of us across the country were deeply upset by what we saw because it is our capital, whether we live or work here or not. It is the country's capital city and it reflects on all of us. We were all deeply saddened by what we saw on Thursday.

I was in the capital on Thursday night. I would not usually be here at that time but I was on the streets and I got a message that buildings here were being evacuated. I rang the gate and Leinster House was not being evacuated at that point but staff in Agriculture House and Kildare House were asked to leave to 4 p.m., so there was an appreciation at that stage in the day that something was brewing and staff were worried and awaiting instructions. As one person said to me, there were roving gangs on the streets of Dublin. I got off the streets and did not go back to the office because for the first time ever I was genuinely frightened while being up here. I got back to the hotel as quickly as I could and I could smell the burning on the streets as I walked back there. It is a day do not think I will ever forget. There were people running down Nassau Street; it was remarkable.

I want to pay tribute - and I will have a chance to do so more fully tomorrow during the Fine Gael Private Members' motion - to the members of An Garda Síochána who were on the streets that night and who responded to the call to back up their colleagues who were in trouble. Whatever about the rest of us on the streets, it must have been truly frightening for the gardaí who took to the streets to protect all of us and to restore order, which they did, in incredibly challenging circumstances. I am sure their families were equally concerned for their safety. It was an extraordinary night for all of the wrong reasons.

I did not disagree with much of what was said across the House, even though there are different perspectives. Most of what was said is true. We are all united in utter condemnation of the violence we saw. I agree with Senator Fitzpatrick's comments on the events. I mention those poor children. It has been reported that one girl has received catastrophic injuries and is still receiving treatment. Thankfully the other two children have been released but their carer is still in hospital. Our thoughts are first and foremost with those children, their families and the school community at Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square. They will recover from this but they are recovering from what was a traumatic situation. We are all united in condemning what happened on Thursday night. There will be an opportunity tomorrow, and over the coming days and weeks I am sure, to discuss this. There are questions to be answered. I have no doubt that the Minister and the Garda Commissioner will be forthcoming in answering them. There are reasonable questions to be asked and answered and that will happen. The public will want reassurance on that front.

I agree with the comments that we had far-right elements or people motivated by far-right ideology present last Thursday. From some of the stuff I saw online, a lot of racism and hatred fuelled what happened.Then there were others who were brought along on the night, for whatever reason. On the points made by Senator Ruane around communities feeling disenfranchised, people do not act like that from nowhere but at the same time, the law is the law. We cannot condone the looting of businesses. I am not sure what somebody was trying to achieve by stealing runners out of Foot Locker, ASICS or wherever. That certainly was not in solidarity with the children who were stabbed that day. There is a lot for us to process as a country in the days and weeks ahead, and we will do that. We will need to see some more detail from the Garda Commissioner and the Minister on that front. I note the comments by Senator Dooley, and I am sure that is shared by many as well. I also note that others do not agree with that. There will be a role for reassuring gardaí, and I agree that gardaí are afraid to act and protect themselves. We know that many of the newly-trained gardaí are sent to Dublin first, so it is a pretty intense situation to have to deal with, and it requires specific training to deal with those types of situations. We will need to reassess that because ultimately, gardaí have to be kept safe in order to keep the rest of us safe.

I will leave it at that. We will have an opportunity tomorrow to have fuller discussions, and we will hear from the Minister and the Garda Commissioner in due course. My understanding is that both have been invited to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice. Even if they are not members of the committee, Senators will have an opportunity to attend there as well.