Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I begin by extending my sympathies to the three children and the care worker who were attacked and stabbed on Thursday, the school and school community, An Garda Síochána, which was on the firing line on Thursday afternoon and night, and their families, who were terrified, watching as events unfolded on social media. I extend my sympathies to shop staff and owners who were targeted by opportunistic looting and all the people who look after our city and the public realm daily, who watched as a mob tried to burn it down. I also extend them to transport workers who take pride in their jobs, with us taking pride in them in return, who saw their trams and buses, symbols of our State, destroyed, and to the public who were caught up in the sorry mess and experienced, maybe for the first time, what hate looks like when it is up close. Every immigrant now feels that he or she has a target on his or her back. Dublin has been tarnished by the events of the last six days.

Two stories come to mind. One is that on Thursday afternoon, I had guests in Leinster House. They made a lovely gesture in presenting me with an award. I could not attend an awards ceremony on Saturday in the Gresham, to which people came from around the globe to attend, including a woman who had family from California, who had never been to Dublin or Ireland before. They spent Thursday night in their hotel room watching what unfolded on O'Connell Street. I was canvassing on Ashtown on Friday and Saturday. There had been a knife incident in Aldi in Ashtown. I spoke to a mother of a migrant family who is afraid to leave the House.

I accept that Dublin has become a tale of two cities, with areas to go to and not go to, if one can help it. We know that is not acceptable. We still have cycles of poverty in our society, and yet we have an economy that is performing strongly. I am of a school of thought, and think the Minister is too, where Mandela said, "As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality exist in our world, none of us can truly rest." I really believe that. I also believe, however, that there are threats in our society that we have never experienced before to this extent, namely, populism, prejudice and polarisation.There are many out there who are exploiting those threats. Yes, Dublin has become a tale of two cities and we have to address that but Ireland is also becoming increasingly divided with a menacing element that we are not used to. It is not just a policing issue. We must address policing and a policing response but we also have to look at the underlying issues as to why we are there. As I said, poverty, disadvantage and inequality are enduring problems but if you have undermined our Garda and trust in the institutions of the State over the years, then you are part of the problem. If you have called into question the legitimacy of our democracy you are part of the problem. If you are using immigration to divide people to create a platform for yourself, you are part of the problem. If you are othering children who already feel different and you are teaching hate, you are part of the problem.

From watching the Minister work on community safety partnerships, I am aware that she understands joined-up thinking. The Minister understands that it is not just a policing response; it is the totality of understanding the dynamics at play here. I have complete confidence in the Minister and in An Garda Síochána. There are areas that the Minister knows and I know must be addressed. I have spoken to the Minister previously about how the resources we have are not equal across the city. This needs to be addressed. We have to make being a garda a job that people want for life. We have to return to the time when a person would become a garda in their 20s and would stick with it. The pension is an issue that is brought up with me. It used to be the case that the pension would keep people in the job. We also need to look at a Dublin strategy because since Covid, we have not looked at Dublin in a holistic way. Since Covid there are empty commercial properties and the city has changed. There needs to be a coming together. The Minister is working with the community safety partnership but there also has to be bigger thinking in relation to Dublin. We saw our city set alight last Thursday. It has broken our hearts but there are people who need to accept they have been playing with fire over recent years and they have a part to play in this as well.