Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like so many around the country my thoughts are with the young children and their crèche worker who were heinously attacked last Thursday on Parnell Square. A series of menacing actors seized on these tragic incidents to sow hate and division under a guise of concern. To see Opposition parties like Sinn Féin, instead of providing leadership, try to feed into that division and score political points is sickening. Not one solution was proposed by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald in her contribution this afternoon. There was just an attempt to convince people that Sinn Féin is somehow a different party to that which up until very recently celebrated those criminals who previously attacked and even murdered members of An Garda Síochána. Shame on Sinn Féin which sent out its representatives onto national media over the weekend calling for our Minister for Justice to be “taken out”. Language matters. Sinn Féin knows that all too well. The day we take advice from Sinn Féin on who is over An Garda Síochána will be a very sad day for this country.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin spoke about the attackers being buoyant. I respectfully suggest that some of the political point-scoring and the division in the Chamber today may well make them more buoyant this evening. There can be no justification for the actions of those involved in the lead up to, during or the aftermath of what we saw on Thursday. That is why I support the Government and the strong response of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to strengthen the hand of the Gardaí to deal with these law breakers so that anyone who thinks they can join a hoard or attack a garda will know that the gardaí have bodycams and they will be identified and so that anyone who thinks they can join a mob and terrorise the streets will know that through facial recognition technology, CCTV footage will be scoured and those responsible will get a knock on the door to answer for their actions. Anyone who thinks they can join in the mindless violence and assault of a member of An Garda Síochána or an emergency worker will know they face 12 years behind bars for their actions. If any thug or group thinks they are above the law based on any ideology, creed, cause or identity, they are severely mistaken. Their actions do not represent the values of our country or those who live and work here. We stand united against the forces of chaos and division and we say not in our name.

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