Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Last Saturday, 300 men, women and children, all of them Northern Ireland Protestant, Unionist, people, came to Dublin with five bands to hold a peaceful procession, which was to be followed by a short rally, to express their deeply held convictions about past and present issues in Northern Ireland. This House will note that they held their procession and rally in the immediate environs of Leinster House without creating any difficulty or disorder and peacefully returned to Northern Ireland. In doing so, they exercised what is guaranteed to every citizen of this, the Irish Republic, as a matter of constitutional right under Article 40 of our Constitution, namely, the rights of citizens, subject to public order and morality, to "freely express their convictions and opinions" and to "assemble peaceably and without arms" for that purpose. The Constitution also makes express provision for the limitation of that right in the interests of preserving the public peace, the prevention of danger and nuisance to the public and to safeguard the integrity of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Under our laws, the Garda Síochána is entrusted with the duty of upholding those rights and upholding public order and the law in the manner in which they are exercised. As the House knows, the people who had come from Northern Ireland were prevented by a mob of cowardly thugs, who exhibited cowardice, criminality, viciousness and hatred in equal measure, from walking the route they had chosen.

As the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I am addressing the House in an act of political accountability on behalf of the Garda for which I have ministerial responsibility. I am laying before the House the information I have received from the Garda authorities about the preparations which were made by Garda management in advance of last Saturday. I will outline the experience of the Garda in dealing with the events which occurred in O'Connell Street and its environs on the occasion of the Families Acting for Innocent Relatives march. The FAIR organisation represents a group of people from the loyalist community in Northern Ireland, including many families which were bereaved by nationalist violence during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

I have arranged for Members to be given a written summary, prepared by my officials, of the manner in which the force carefully prepared for the demonstration. The summary, based exclusively on the extensive oral and written reports received by the Department from the Garda Commissioner over the past 48 hours, sets out how the Garda authorities managed the situation when, entirely contrary to their expectations and their formal risk assessment, significant scenes of thuggery and public disorder suddenly occurred, forcing the procession to be significantly rerouted and severely curtailed.

It should not be forgotten that despite the extraordinary disturbances in O'Connell Street last Saturday, the Garda authorities managed to facilitate the holding of a loyalist demonstration outside Leinster House. The courage and professionalism of the Garda ensured that no harm was caused to the participants. It is a challenging task to police a democratic society and, in particular, to maintain public order in a liberal democracy. It is much more difficult to do so than to exercise the same responsibility in a country where the right to freedom of expression, free assembly and public protest is not enshrined in the constitution. In Ireland, as republicans, we extend such liberties and freedoms to allow people of every shade of opinion to express their views in public marches and demonstrations, subject only to the requirements of public order and the common good.

The Garda which is charged with security matters checked with its contacts and sources in the various strands of the Sinn Féin movement to ascertain their intentions in respect of the protest on Saturday. After it assessed the intelligence information that was available to it, it concluded that any counter-demonstration to the loyalist march would come from the Republican Sinn Féin element in the political spectrum. The information gleaned by the Garda was that Provisional Sinn Féin did not intend to mount any protest on the day and that Republican Sinn Féin intended to mount a peaceful sit-down protest involving a relatively small number of its members who would be bearing placards.

I draw to the attention of the House that Republican Sinn Féin declined to engage in a meaningful manner with the Garda which was preparing to police the demonstration. It did not give any advance information about its intentions in carrying out a counter-protest. Its failure to co-operate was despicable and should be condemned by all shades of opinion represented in this House.

In light of the information available to the Garda authorities about the scale of the loyalist protest, they decided to deploy 281 members of the force to police the parade in a low-key and relatively unobtrusive fashion. They took the precaution of keeping a 67-member detachment of the public order unit discreetly in reserve in a nearby street in case events took an unexpected turn, which was the case on the day. While lessons will be learned from what subsequently took place, I want to make clear that blame for the events of last Saturday lies squarely with those who indulged in wanton violence and destruction on the streets of our capital city and those who encouraged such behaviour, directly or indirectly. I welcome Deputy Kenny's suggestion that the House should adopt a motion in this regard.

It is to my great regret and disappointment that those who travelled from the North were not extended their rights. A small and wholly unrepresentative group of cowardly thugs did their utmost to debase this State because they could not stomach another viewpoint or bring themselves to acknowledge the existence of an alternative tradition on this island. As the Taoiseach has said, they engaged in an orgy of violence that was directed against the Garda, in direct contravention of the will of the people of this island, North and South, as endorsed overwhelmingly in the referenda on the Good Friday Agreement. Those responsible should hang their heads in shame. I hope they will be brought to book for what they have done.

Those who pervertedly and falsely describe themselves as republicans have once again acted contrary to the aspiration of Irish unity. We must wonder whether such people will ever comprehend the stupidity and futility of action of this nature. They unleashed hate-filled and provocative sectarian abuse on the Garda. They insulted members of the force such as the late detective garda Jerry McCabe, who died at the hands of cowardly and sectarian terrorists as he was helping to uphold our democracy. They waved the tricoloured national flag which represents peace between orange and green. What kind of Ireland do these people desire? I particularly want to record my shock and anger that the thugs attacked and injured members of the Garda who were doing their duty with courage and forbearance. On behalf of the Government, I have asked the Garda Commissioner to convey to the injured gardaí and their families my wishes for a speedy recovery and my gratitude for their courage.

I was in regular touch with the Commissioner and his senior officers throughout the weekend, after the events under discussion transpired. I received a preliminary report on the matter yesterday, on which I briefed my Government colleagues this morning.

I would like to make a few points before I go into further detail about the contents of the report. Most importantly, I wish to place on the record of the House the appreciation of Deputies of the work done by the Garda Síochána, which dealt in a professional manner with the difficult situation which arose contrary to its expectations and professional judgments of the risk. Its response was measured, proportionate and effective. It is easy with hindsight to suggest what might or might not have been done to avoid what transpired. The duty of the Garda was to devise and implement a careful and professional policing plan based on the information available to it, as well as on its experience and judgment. While people might say the kind of trouble that occurred was predictable or inevitable, the simple fact is that the Garda authorities thought otherwise. If they did not have that viewpoint, they would have acted differently.

The document I have made available to Members makes it clear that there was no carelessness on the part of the Garda. There is no truth in the suggestion that the force's planning was hampered by a lack of resources. That suggestion has been made recently, but it is wholly and completely untrue. The Garda authorities have told me that no credible information was available to them to suggest that trouble in the form of public disorder on a grand scale would arise on Saturday. In their professional judgment, it was neither necessary nor appropriate to create a ring of steel around the marchers. They thought such an approach would have been over-the-top, counter-productive and possibly create an atmosphere of fear and trouble. If they had considered it necessary to put a ring of steel in place, they would have advised the organisers of that. In such circumstances, the venue of the march would have been altered or the event would have been cancelled, as appropriate. Many people have been quick to criticise the Garda for a lack of preparedness. Some of them have reminded us of the old Latin saying, si vis pacem, para bellum, if you want peace, prepare for war.

I do not suggest that lessons cannot be learned from what happened, because they will be learned. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, however. I can imagine the complaints which would have been made by some people if the Garda had closed down the city centre, including the shops and pubs on O'Connell Street, by sealing off the side streets, erecting barriers and making O'Connell Street a no-go zone in which the representatives of FAIR could march in isolation behind serried ranks of gardaí. That was not the intention of the event and it was not the strategy the Garda had in mind. I am satisfied that an enormous amount of preparation was made by the Garda ahead of last Saturday's demonstration. It is to be regretted that vicious opposition was encountered in the face of a reasonable and low-key law enforcement approach.

As I indicated earlier, yesterday evening I met the Garda Commissioner, who was able to furnish me with a preliminary report into Saturday's events. I emphasise that it is a preliminary report. As the ramifications of the events are considered, I hope the extent to which it was organised will be determined and those responsible and their networks will be the subject of rigorous pursuit. I hope the prosecution of those involved will follow.

I propose to set out some of the preliminary report's main points. I wish to make it perfectly clear that a comprehensive operational policing plan was in place prior to the weekend. The determination of subversive and thuggish elements to cause disruption should not be allowed to detract from the fact that the plan was far from being a seat-of-the-pants exercise. In advance of the day, a series of meetings was held between the relevant branches of the Garda Síochána, the parade organisers, Dublin City Council, the Health Service Executive and with various city centre trader organisations such as the Dublin City Business Association, which backed the Garda strategy. Officers were briefed in detail on how to respond to protestors and how to protect members of the public. Parnell Square and the parade route were searched in advance of the march, while arrangements were made with Dublin City Council for bins to be emptied and sealed. Six meetings were held to ensure the building works on O'Connell Street would be secured.

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