Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of People Before Profit, I extend our deepest sympathies to the wife, daughters, family, friends and constituents of David Amess. To be murdered in that way is really horrific, terrible and tragic. It should certainly give us all pause for reflection.

As others have alluded to, whatever about political differences and the need for robust debate, a critical part of our democracy is our ability to engage with our constituents. In some countries, public representatives have to be flanked by heavy security all the time. We never want to go down that road. We must preserve that relationship. Even though things can get tense at times, we want to preserve that relationship. We have to fight to maintain that relationship with our constituents through our clinics. As terrible and tragic as this is, we must not let this tragedy undermine that relationship that public representatives have to maintain with their constituents and those who elect them.

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