Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was an absolutely horrendous attack on Parnell Square for a young girl, the other victims, the family and the school. It was down to the bravery of those who intervened, who acted on instinct. Both people who have been here for generations and people who moved to this country were involved in intervening and trying to save young people on Parnell Square. Afterwards, thugs made an attack on our capital city, our gardaí and people in our transport services on the Luas and the buses. This was an attack on our democracy and we stand behind our Minister for Justice when we have an attack on our democracy. We stand behind the Minister for Justice. We stand together united and in solidarity and that is what we as public representatives in this country, which is a democracy, are doing. What we are seeing here is pure hatred. Hatred is driving the actions and behaviours of people in our capital city. These are unprecedented events and there is no-one in this House who can say they would have seen something like this happen.

Dublin 1 was my home for seven or eight years and I walked in and out of the city. I lived on the North Circular Road near Summerhill and I loved living close to the city. I loved the freedom it gave and the fact I could move freely. It is heartbreaking to hear that happened in Dublin 1. Dublin city centre is a home to so many from so many different backgrounds and so many different nationalities and that is especially true of Dublin 1. It is such a mix and has so much to offer. The challenge we have now is this feeling safety is at stake. Something the Minister is driving at in her role is hatred legislation and what we see here is very much us and them. That is what it comes down to. There are 30-odd different nationalities in a school I know in a small town in the west of Ireland. When we look at our childcare, our schools and our healthcare or when we go to any of our services, we have so many people who are supporting us here in Ireland. As speakers have said, if we did not have that our country would fall apart. This hatred is what we stand against and every single day we are in here we will stand against hatred.