Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Deputy Kehoe said this was a matter of resources. It most certainly was not a matter of resources. There was no question of any downward pressure on the officers who made the decision in this case not to deploy resources. In the course of consultations I asked about helicopters and water cannons. I am satisfied they were all considered carefully by the gardaí who made the decisions. As Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I do not micromanage the way in which the Garda carries out its affairs. I had no hand, act or part in its preparation for this event. I am not saying that to wash my hands of it. I am saying it would be improper if I, from the vastness of St. Stephen's Green, was to say this should be a hard hat helmet event not a soft cap event or vice versa. If I had got it wrong and had intervened in those circumstances the Deputies opposite would ask what I was doing by intervening in this way and they would ask me to take personal responsibility for the error of my ways.

It is not my function and I have never once offered advice to the Garda Commissioner or the regional commissioners as to how they should discharge their functions. I do not do that. It is foolish, in this House, to claim that the Minister sits there working out the response or what preparations should be made for President Bush's visit to Ireland, the May Day events, the St. Patrick's Day events or the Easter parade. I do not do those kind of things. We have a Garda Síochána which has a Commissioner, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners. Members have a clear record of who did what and why they did it, what they knew and what they did not know. It is time we resisted the temptation to dump on them and that we remember who were the people who caused the mayhem. It was not the Garda or its management but the perpetrators.

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