Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One has to sympathise and empathise with our neighbours in Paris and France on the atrocity perpetrated against them last Friday evening. One can only imagine the scenes of chaos and confusion, the loud explosions, the staccato bursts of automatic weapons, the sound and smell of gunfire, the smell of blood and terror that prevails in such situations and does not go away. It could happen to anybody, anywhere at present. Some speakers have different attitudes to what has happened and how it should be dealt with. I do not know but I am certain that slowly, inexorably we are moving in a direction that I am not happy about. I do not know that anything can be done to stop that because it would appear we are heading towards a major confrontation unknown since the Second World War. If that happens it will be a disaster.

There are ample opportunities for the perpetrators to think carefully because where the world is heading is not a place the world will want to go. I do not know that there is any sense in blaming ourselves because we all know that when the US went into Iraq it was not a good idea. The President of Iraq at the time however was not exactly a gentleman in the true sense of the word. He did not treat his neighbours, friends or enemies in a way that would be in accord with the Queensberry rules. The US and Britain went into Afghanistan. People condemned that but we need to be reminded the regime there was not very affable either. It had a rather arbitrary attitude to almost everybody. It had an appalling attitude to minorities, to women and to society around it and it acted on that.

Over the past couple of years numerous aircraft have been downed, with terrorist attacks all around the world. In those circumstances there is a message: “we are coming at you, we are coming for you”. There is perhaps very little we can do because there appears to be a great deal of hatred. Over the past couple of years we have seen countless instances of people being beheaded. Appalling atrocities have been committed in front of television cameras, the purpose of which is to terrorise the people at whom they are directed, whether in the East or West is immaterial.

Somebody else started on that route in the early part of the 20th century. People pointed out their grievances and said society was being penalised unnecessarily and people should address it. They did, with what appalling consequences: 70 million people died in the course of that war. If we learn one thing from that appalling war it should be that we try never to let it happen again.

With whom are we dealing? Are they people who wish to pursue revenge for past atrocities? If so, we have to go back 3,000 or 4,000 years because one attack begets another and so on. We have seen that in this country and all over the world. Where does it stop?

Daniel O’Connell was in France during the revolution and came to the conclusion that to pursue a political objective was not worth the cost of a single life. He was opposed to the use of violence to achieve a political objective. I am concerned that we may find ourselves sliding into something the result of which nobody can see. There is no sense blaming ourselves for this. We may be called. We may have to face the reality in this country and activate our defences however we can. This is coming towards us and all we can do is alleviate it as best we can.

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