Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to the Minister for the exceptional job she has done throughout her tenure, but especially since last Thursday. She has spoken with confidence and strength, and for the majority of people who are appalled and who support our gardaí and our Commissioner. I am foursquare behind her. Populism is a definite type of strategy that claims everything is simple, has a really simple answer and a simple cause. Populists claim they are speaking for ordinary people, that an elite is out to suppress them, undermine them and ensure they are kept downtrodden. The last general election was the first time in my adult life I have seen how the count you came in on legitimised or delegitimised your seat in Dáil Éireann. On social media we saw people referred to by the count number they came in on. They were followers of political parties that did nothing to quell that ignorance of proportional representation, or the ignorance that seemed to say a minority should walk straight into the Taoiseach's office or a Minister's office instead of respecting the fact that the people who do that are the people who amass the majority vote in Dáil Éireann. The Government in Dáil Éireann is completely and utterly legitimate, has been legitimately elected and appointed in the democracy we have cherished since the foundation of this State.

That narrative has undermined the legitimacy of our Government no matter what it does. If it gave everybody €1,000 in the morning it will be said that it should have given them more. No matter what Government does, there is a simple answer as to why it should have done more. It should have done it differently. It should have done X,Y and Z because people are entitled. There is never an explanation of finite resources. There is never an explanation as to how it might have been apportioned differently. The tune is changing slightly now that a general election is in sight. It is becoming less dramatic and less populist. However, the behaviour of calling for the Minister's resignation and calling for the resignation of the Commissioner is pure populism. It is pure political exploitation. It is to turn what was a shock to everybody into something else. The idea that an individual would behave in such a manner towards children and their carer was shocking to everybody. No-one could have predicted it. That said, we have all become desensitised to terror due to its prevalence on our screens and in our social media. Those who have a lower threshold of understanding what is real or what is proportionate perhaps think things are legitimate when they are not. The response on Thursday was to send out messages on social media. I did think there would be protests on Thursday afternoon. I immediately thought that. It did not occur to me there would be a riot in O'Connell Street but I feared for places where migrants are living in our country. I feared for protests at those places.

I have seen it in real time in the past two weeks. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, sent us a briefing about a centre that is opening. It was thorough. The local representatives came together. We discussed the potential ways this could be twisted online. We anticipated it. It happens to be families and we made sure that we worked together. I then watched in real time as it was twisted online, and I had to deal with it online. There are public representatives who have undermined the legitimacy of the State, who say that this is failed State, and who never explain the thoroughness that has to go into any ministerial decision or the length of time it takes to bring through legislation. I know that myself from my experience with surrogacy legislation. Those representatives who make it all out to be a simple quick fix, a simple cause, or a simple whatever are as much responsible as the people out rioting on the street. They are as responsible for the fact that you have people who think their State does not care about them. Yes, we can do things better. There is no question. You will often hear me say it here and in our parliamentary party that there are things, which can be done better. There are people who are excluded, and who need greater care and support. However, telling everybody that their Government is against them, delegitimising the standing of our democracy, leads to scenes like we had last Thursday. There is a responsibility for that. A narrative of hate, contempt and a lack of respect for pluralism in democracy has crept into this House since the last general election. That responsibility needs to be called out and dealt with.