Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

When we look at that group we can clearly identify it as having its roots perhaps in fascism in a global context. It has been involved in similar struggles around the world. However, then we have communities that are disenfranchised and are very much being exploited because a particular grouping has given them a narrative for rage, exclusion, isolation or shame they have felt in their own existence in an Ireland that has left them behind. My concern is around rhetoric and language. We try to ensure that some of those young men, whom we are at risk of losing to the much more organised bodies the Commissioner speaks about, but when we use language like "thugs" and "scumbags" it makes it more difficult for youth workers, community workers and people who are trying to engage with them to differentiate between the messages that are given. What I want to ask the Commissioner is whether he sees that when we use terms like "thugs" and "scumbags" in that collective sense when we talk about people who get dragged from the fringes into these spaces and who may not necessarily be part of the official far right but are being exploited in that sense, we create more division and, in turn, that does not create more safety but makes it harder for us to create safety in the future.