Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I intend to share my time with Deputies Crowe, Joe Higgins and Gregory.

I compliment members of an Garda Síochána on their courage in the front line on Saturday and applaud the work they carried out. However, it must be asked whether the organisers of the Love Ulster parade really believed that marching through the streets of Dublin would further the peace process on this island. On a practical level, there were significant difficulties with the resources and intelligence that were brought to bear on Saturday's events. The Minister said that if we want peace we should prepare for war, but I believe we should hope for the best while preparing for the worst. I do not think such preparations were made on Saturday, given that gardaí on the front line were left without the right clothing for a long period to battle missiles that ranged from rocks to wheelbarrows. With proper policing, gardaí who were not properly equipped would have been removed from the front line very quickly, but that did not happen on Saturday.

I do not know what the Garda knew in advance of Saturday's march, but I know that I was worried beforehand. Republican Sinn Féin had warned of violence and the word on the Internet was that violence could occur. The dogs on the street and the dogs in the blogs knew that there might be violence. Mobile phone text messages seem to have played their part in the rapid escalation on Saturday. Indymedia suggests that a "flashmob" was in operation on Saturday, but modern technology certainly seems to have allowed things to escalate very quickly. I am not convinced that the Garda Síochána is on top of the kind of technology that was being used in the days, hours and minutes prior to the violence.

Dublin City Council does not seem to have been on top of things either. It is regrettable that missile material was available behind a fence that could simply be lifted up and pushed over by a couple of people. Failure to control the building site meant that material that could be used as missiles was not cleared away from the street.

The protesters seem to have been a mixture of Republican Sinn Féin supporters, a small group of self-styled anarchists and a fairly significant group of the disaffected in Irish society. I do not for a second defend the violence that occurred, but I believe the Minister must answer questions on why these young people were so disaffected that they turned away from society. As a right-wing Minister, Deputy McDowell has lauded policies that reduce the State's involvement in communities. Saturday's events clearly show that the State must be involved in building up communities not through tax breaks but in social programmes. Instead of the tax breaks the Government has provided for superpubs and car parks, we need more investment in communities through FÁS, RAPID areas, education and housing. We need investment in sports facilities, parks and playgrounds rather than in horses and greyhounds. We need a change in the Government's priorities.

The social exclusion and poverty that led to the Gregory deal some 20 years ago have not gone away. The violence and riots that took place in Paris last summer resonate with what we saw on the streets of Dublin last Saturday.

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