Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Rioting, destruction, personal injury and public disorder on the scale experienced on Dublin streets on Saturday made this emergency debate inevitable and the principle of Dáil accountability requires the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should be here to answer questions on the information available to him about the disgraceful events on Saturday. It is with some disbelief that I see the Minister is indeed present but literally on his own on the Government benches, with only a solitary Fianna Fáil backbencher present.

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