Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A Programme for a Partnership Government commits to ensuring a strong and visible police force in every community. Yesterday, there was a shooting outside a school in the constituency of the Taoiseach and my colleague, Deputy Burton. It was an outrageous incident involving a gunman shooting at a man collecting a pupil from the school. It is incredibly lucky that such a reckless assault did not result in fatalities or serious injuries. It follows on from recent incidents in Drogheda and elsewhere. According to my colleague, Senator Nash, there appears to be a clear lack of resources in Drogheda. There has been an escalation in such shootings and other gangland crimes, which appear to be happening with impunity. We must not allow this to become the norm. What is the Government specifically doing about this? Will it take on these escalating attacks? We need to know whether this is a resource issue. Has the Government discussed that with An Garda Síochána? How will the Government and the Minster for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, respond?

See this speech in context