Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome. On behalf of my party, I first wish to send my best wishes and prayers to the six-year-old girl who remains seriously ill, as well as to the school caretaker, who is a hero and who is also still receiving treatment in hospital after that awful day last Thursday when they were viciously attacked. Our thoughts are with them and their families. Please God they will make a full recovery. Our thoughts are also with the boy and girl who, thankfully, been able to go home but who will no doubt need continued support. Many of the children at the school will need ongoing support and care. It is every parent’s worst nightmare.

High praise should be given to those who quickly intervened and risked their lives to stop the attacked. Caio Benicio, Warren Donoghue, Alan Loren-Guille and Siobhán Kearney are some of the people to thank, as well as all those who ran over to help. We also have to praise and thank the Dublin Fire Brigade, the Garda and the emergency services, which acted so quickly to respond; heroes and heroines one and all. These people represent the spirit, heart and soul of all of the people of Ireland. On that little patch of ground on Parnell Square, we witnessed modern Ireland and its people at their best in the midst of a life-threatening frenzy. It is a reminder that irrespective of skin colour, class or creed, we all depend on one another. We rely on one another's strengths and weaknesses as we engage in life in the good and not-so-good times. There is a lesson for all of us in the Oireachtas from the selflessness of those who endangered themselves to help others. We need to value and cherish our health workers, education workers, gardaí and fire brigade workers because in times like this lives depend on them being able to do their jobs and they must have the resources and decent working pay and conditions they deserve.

In the aftermath of the attack, what happened was surreal for many people looking on. I send messages of support and solidarity to the business community of Dublin for the personal hurt caused to them by the attacks on their businesses, the loss they incurred and the implications of those losses for their businesses and staff at this important time, the run-up to Christmas.Our thoughts and thanks are also with the emergency services, especially the gardaí and members of the Dublin Fire Brigade, who were on the streets being viciously attacked and abused by thugs, egged on by right-wing fanatics in search of a divisive cause.

How has this Government responded to all that? Unfortunately, the Minister still cannot admit we lost control, that her gardaí lost control in Dublin last week and there was a failure to keep people safe. I was looking at the statements from Niall Hodgins of the GRA who spoke on radio this morning. He said:

... there was no plan here. Members turned up simply because of .. messages being passed around from garda to garda. ... no instruction came down to the members. I could give you a myriad of examples and be sitting here all night about a number of text messages ... from garda to garda about witnessing what was happening to their colleagues ... [and deciding to go to their assistance]. It was absolutely chaotic.

That is what the representative of the GRA said. That is a damning indictment of the Garda Commissioner, to be absolutely frank with the Minister. How can she possibly stand over a situation like that? It is entirely unacceptable. It is not just Sinn Féin saying control was lost in Dublin city centre last week, but retailers, workers, shoppers, visitors to our capital city and gardaí themselves. This situation has been building for months and months, but instead of doing something, the Minister allowed it to worsen. I have to be frank with her that I do not believe she should stay in office. Those scenes of her being flanked by gardaí some months ago insisting the city was safe have really come back to haunt her, because we know the centre of town has not been a safe space for some considerable time. Unfortunately, the Minister appears to be in a state of denial about that issue. After more than a decade of Fine Gael in Government, there are now fewer gardaí in Dublinper capita, not to mention the closure of Garda stations and issues with training and resources.

We need a change in leadership. We need someone in charge who will do the job and put public safety first because the public do not feel safe. The Government was too slow to expand the capacity of the Garda College at Templemore and too slow to increase the Garda training allowance. It looks set to miss its Garda recruitment target again this year by a margin of about 20%. Please do not tell us 1,000 gardaí will be hired because the Government is not going to make that target. It looks like the figure may be as low as 700. How on earth can the Minister stand over that?

After everything that happened last Thursday, there is still no improvement in how people feel walking around certain parts of Dublin city. The Minister is saying there is an increased Garda presence but yesterday outside the same school where children and care workers were stabbed, there was a man drinking alcohol and lying across the steps of the front door of the school at pick-up time, and there was not a garda in sight to protect those children leaving school. That is a fact. On Sunday night, there were reports of a stabbing incident on Talbot Street outside a pharmacy. As I highlighted earlier in the week, I was speaking to a friend who witnessed a highly intoxicated man in a Dame Street lane who attacked several bar staff in two pubs. When they rang the Garda for assistance no one came and they were left to deal with the situation themselves. I am being very clear that this is not the fault of gardaí as we know resources are not there. We are 500 gardaí short. This is the Minister’s response. She has failed and she needs to resign.