Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

The cruel murder of Constable Ronan Kerr in Omagh on Saturday has once again reminded us of the need to convey the pointlessness of violence as a means of political change on this island.

Ronan Kerr, like myself, was a child of the 1980s, a decade that saw some horrendous atrocities carried out on this island in the name of one cause or another. Us children born in the 1980s are the youngest who can still recall the darkness and despair of the Troubles. Ronan Kerr would have been eight years old when the first IRA ceasefire was announced in August 1994 and was 12 when the real IRA bombed his hometown of Omagh killing 29 innocent people and an unborn child in 1998. The children of the 1980s hope that we are the last to witness the depravity that has plagued this island for decades. It is our hope that those born after the 1980s will never see what we can still recall from our childhood.

Ronan Kerr was one of us and from what I have learned in the past three days he was a patriot and a man who believed in the rule of law, fairness and equality. It is galling that we are once again visited with the shock, sadness and outrage of an honourable man slain in the course of his duty to his community. Will those who were responsible for this despicable act of cowardice ever learn that such actions achieve no good for anyone of any ideology, religious persuasion or background.

On my way from Kerry to Dublin this morning I paused briefly at the memorial plaque in honour of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare. As I read the plaque I thought how pointless was his murder and how sad it is that such pointless acts are still occurring on this island at this time.

There is no popular desire on this island to return to the horror and sadness of the past. The youngest generation on this island wish to live their lives free of the savagery of the past. Those who cannot recall are well aware of the hurt, agony and pain of the Troubles. However, those who are not aware must be reminded.

It is with huge regret that in my maiden speech in Dáil Éireann I offer my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Constable Ronan Kerr. Let his death be the last such death on this island.

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