Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in the House in condemning the brutal murder of George Floyd in the United States and all that has gone with that since then. One positive thing to come from this is a coming together of a range of different people and races peacefully, as has been shown in recent days, to stand together against the abuse of and discrimination against black people.

It is worth putting on the record of this House the concept of white privilege and how that can be normatised in our own lives. As we develop as a more racially integrated society, we need to become more conscious of that within our politics and the advantages white privilege has brought. I refer to the concept of the "invisible knapsack", a term coined by Peggy McIntosh in 1990 in respect of white privilege. The concept is not about racism being something that disadvantages others, but the corollary that whiteness is in itself an advantage and the need to really try to understand that idea.

On social media, which is so useful in this way, we have seen many different memes of white privilege and associated tests. That is not to be tokenistic or to try to diminish the seriousness of this issue. They are a useful check of our understanding of ourselves, our place in the world and the advantages conferred on us, not just in this House, this country or this Parliament.

They highlight how difficult it can be for people of different races who are not in a majority situation and have not had the inherent advantages that come with that. I stress that I do not wish to be tokenistic but, rather, to put on the record of the House that I have never been the only person of my race in a room or the victim of violence because of my race. Nobody has ever told me that I sound white or that they wish to check whether my hair feels real or anything of that nature. As I stated, I do not wish to be tokenistic. Sometimes there is value in these things being created as a picture or in reference to oneself in order to try really to understand the nature of race and race relations, particularly as we become a more integrated society.

On a more local matter, there were significant public order difficulties in areas of Dún Laoghaire, my constituency, including in Seapoint, Sandycove, Dalkey, Killiney and Shankill, where, naturally, children or young people who were mad to get out of the house congregated. It has caused a significant public order issue. I thank the Garda for its actions over the weekend to try to help and intervene. I hope those difficulties will not be an ongoing feature of the summer and that the Minister will provide every support to the Garda as it tries to deal with the issue.

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