Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join others in extending my thoughts to those who were injured at Parnell Square and wish them a speedy recovery. We send every blessing to them. What happened in the aftermath of these horrific attacks was a disgrace. There were burnt-out cars, buses and a Luas tram, smashed-up shop fronts, workers hiding in the basements of shops and restaurant staff from beyond these shores who were afraid to leave their workplaces to go home. Brave gardaí were isolated, assaulted and left high and dry. Gardaí were not even able to mount a baton charge on Parnell Street. There are not enough gardaí, so Dublin gets burnt. There were 8 ft gaps between the gardaí during their baton charge. Gardaí are supposed to protect us from these people. The Commissioner is supposed to protect his force but public safety collapsed and it was a disgrace.

The truth is that people have felt unsafe and in danger in Dublin for some time and gardaí simply do not have the numbers and resources they require. To suggest these riots, as extreme as they were, were unforeseeable is a bit of a joke because people have been saying in Dublin for some time that they do not feel safe. They have told the Government, Oireachtas committees, TDs, Senators, newspapers and anyone who will listen to their fears. Small escalations have happened over the city in the last 12 months since Covid. There have been attacks on buildings and the targeting of immigrants and people from other ethnic backgrounds. Buildings have been set on fire. Not a month goes by without a homophobic or transphobic attack being reported in the LGBT press in GCN. Tourists have been left with life-altering injuries. The idea the Garda should not go at these people because if it does, it will force them into becoming some sort of coherent group has been completely undermined because they are pretty coherent as it is. It has been proved all around the world that if civil power is not prepared to take on these people, it falls to ordinary people, other people, to do it and what do we have then? The lessons go back all the way back to the 1930s. They cannot be let do this.

I cannot believe it has been ignored for so long because the signs have been all around us. The signs are literally all around us. This is not legitimate protest. Look at what they did. There has not been so much destruction on O'Connell Street since 1916. They are not trying to liberate any kind of Ireland I want to live in, one where people are attacked because they are brown. Where do we go next? Who is next up against the wall for them? One could ask some of our TDs and Senators, because they have a shopping list. As Joe Brolly said, the far right hates Ireland. They hate women, they hate the new Irish, they hate LGBT people and the despise trans people. This is toxic and it is not on. We cannot have this. The Garda Commissioner has to do his job.We need leadership and solutions but neither the Government, the Minister nor the Garda Commissioner can provide that at this stage. In Sinn Féin's view, it is time for the Minister and the Garda Commissioner to step aside.