Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The events of last Saturday in the city of Dublin were unprecedented. The consequences could not have been foreseen and the extent of those consequences would have been difficult to anticipate. I condemn, in the strongest possible fashion, the antics of the thugs, hooligans and neo-nationalists who disrupted life in the city on a normal Saturday. They terrorised citizens and put the lives of members of the Garda Síochána at risk. The violence on Saturday was the action of vicious thugs. It was premeditated and was well planned. It was an attack not only on the police force, but on free speech, on democracy, on society and on the citizens of Dublin.

It was not an orchestrated attack by football hooligans alone. They would not be in a position to organise it on such a scale. There is now significant evidence available that this riot was premeditated, was well planned in advance and that information to this effect was creeping into the public domain. I have spoken to witnesses who saw a van with a number of men who were arrested near Fleet Street with baseball bats and hurleys. There have been numerous reports of people in possession of billiard balls, golf balls, lump hammers and petrol bombs. Respected journalists have written about people with mobile telephones who directed incidents and issued instructions within this riot. There have been reports of boxes of glass bottles stashed on streets near O'Connell Street for use during this riot.

This level of premeditation is in stark contrast to the low key approach the Government and senior Garda management appear to have adopted in respect of this march, which was a freedom of speech category march. The result was that people who went about their business on Saturday afternoon in the city were simply terrorised. Pictures akin to those from Beirut, Belfast or Baghdad flashed around the world and the front-line gardaí, in their ordinary uniforms, were obliged to face down those thugs and hoodlums. They were left unprotected and were clearly in danger of losing their lives. This is not good enough. Their bravery and courage, while being obliged to stand out and while being left out in such a situation must be commended by everyone in this House. Those innocent people and all the gardaí involved deserve a full explanation as to how these series of provocative and aggressive incidents occurred. Does the Taoiseach accept that the action and the decision of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and senior Garda management, in adopting a low key approach to this unprecedented loyalist march on O'Connell Street was flawed? Does the Taoiseach accept there was a level of complacency in assuming that the peace process was accepted by everyone within this State? Obviously, criminality and lawlessness among some in the so-called republican movement have not disappeared for good. Why was only one riot squad, instead of three or four in place? Why did it take so long to deploy the lone Garda helicopter? How can Members be sure this sort of flawed decision making will not happen again?

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