Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom labhairt mar gheall ar gach aon duine a bhí gortaithe, na leanaí, an triúr laoch sin agus na daoine a chabhraigh leo, agus laoch eile, Leanne, a bhí ag obair ar Chearnóg Parnell Déardaoin seo caite lasmuigh de Ghaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. Tá aithne agam ar an scoil sin mar bhí mo bhean chéile ag múineadh ann ar feadh deich mbliana, agus mo dheartháir chomh maith.

I would like to mention those who were directly affected last Thursday in the stabbing incident at Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. They need to be given every assistance for the trauma they suffer. If any school community will show the resilience required to cope with what happened, however, déanfaidh an fhoireann in the Mhuire é sin. We saw a shining example to us of all the bravery of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and the heroics of numerous people have already been mentioned, such as those who restrained the assailant, protected the children or attempted to give them CPR. That reflects the true spirit of the city and the nation. We hope and pray for a speedy recovery for all those who have been injured. We also must commend the gardaí who showed us, as was noted before, great commitment and courage, especially the resting gardaí who made themselves available to work in spite, as they say themselves, of being under-resourced, underprotected and underappreciated.

During the summer, members of An Garda Síochána already made their opinions known about their Commissioner. Over the weekend, they raised further concerns regarding a lack of equipment, a lack of additional training and a lack of organisational support. Last week, the justice committee visited the Garda Training College in Templemore and was very impressed by the level of professionalism and also the way an ethical framework and respect for human rights are woven through all the training programmes.

There can be no naivety about the threat to public order and safety. That both fire services and gardaí were attacked a short time afterwards demonstrates the moral vacuum of those who carried out the attack, who had no regard for the children, those who were affected, the workers or their community.

The policing failings were clear from the night itself. No doubt, any review of the situation will not be positive for Garda management or the Minister. From soon after the incident, a crowd was gathering, calls were being issued on social media through messaging platforms to gather in town, attempts were being made to encroach on the crime scene, and passers-by from migrant and other backgrounds were being abused. Of course, nobody coming into work here at 9 o'clock on Thursday morning could have predicted it but, by mid-afternoon, anyone with any cop-on would have known there was going to be trouble. Questions will have to be asked as to how things escalated so quickly and why there was not a faster response. The Commissioner claimed that the events could not have been anticipated. Where was the intelligence service in mid-afternoon? What contact took place between the Commissioner, the Minister and anyone else with regard to what was going on? At what time did the Minister speak to him? We need leadership and honesty from the Government and we need credibility.

I ask the Minister not to say that there will be 1,000 extra gardaí by the end of the year because that is not going to happen. I ask her not to say that there is not a crisis in morale in An Garda Síochána or that control was not lost, because clearly it was. I ask her not to say that Templemore was closed because we heard last week that it was never closed. Recruitment may have stalled but it was not closed.

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