Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Táimid ar fad ag déanamh brón le comhphobal Ghaelscoil Mhuire agus leo siúd atá fós san ospidéal. Uppermost in all our thoughts and minds today are those who were so brutally attacked on Parnell Square last Thursday - the little girl and the care worker still in hospital; the other children injured and traumatised in the attack; their families, friends, classmates and communities. We think of all of them and send them our very best wishes. We commend those whose courageous interventions prevented even more devastation on Thursday. We also send our thoughts and solidarity to those gardaí and first responders, transport and council workers and others who were terrorised while doing their jobs or peacefully going about their business in Dublin on Thursday, and those who had to clean up after the wanton destruction that resulted from the awful riots we saw that evening. I condemn outright the outrageous violence we saw unfold on our streets, the streets of our capital city.

Nobody here has a monopoly on the distress we all feel in the aftermath of last Thursday but there must be accountability for what occurred. Those shocking events have brought home to us all the true extent of the crisis in policing, particularly policing in Dublin, that has developed under the watch of this Government. On Friday, the Commissioner Harris asserted that nobody could have anticipated the riots, but that is simply not credible. Long before last week, we saw despicable events orchestrated by the far right across the country, including anti-migrant protests, anti-LGBT protests outside libraries and people burnt out of tents on Mount Street. Everyone in this House is aware of the hate and disinformation that is being spread, especially about immigration. I am sorry to say there are high-profile individuals in this country and people in this House and in the Seanad who have used language about immigration that has undoubtedly contributed to the spread of that disinformation.

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