Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I love being from Dublin. I love this city and feel lucky and fortunate to be able to call it home, as does everyone in this Chamber who calls it home for their whole lives or the many people who have only been calling it home for the past couple of years. We have seen this capital city at its best so many times in recent years, but I know we all agree that last Thursday we saw it at its absolute worst. We saw a vicious attack on children that has scarred a community and we saw anarchy from thugs, whipped up by the far right, on our capital’s main thoroughfare through Thursday night. We saw businesses and public vehicles destroyed and An Garda Síochána attacked. No one should ever feel scared to go to work and we saw on Thursday night workers sheltering in stockrooms and basements and having to be escorted from their workplaces by armed gardaí.

I spent the past number of days with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, speaking to business owners, traders and business representative groups. I spent all day today on O’Connell Street, Henry Street, Mary Street and Abbey Street with Councillor Ray McAdam, and the request from business leaders was clear. First, it is for the level of public order policing put in place by An Garda Síochána to be maintained for the foreseeable. I know the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will ensure that. Second, it is for us to quit the petty politicking, especially those of us from Dublin. We acknowledge the concerns and criticisms but, coming up to the Christmas period, this is when our capital city needs us most. The level of business lost on Friday will see businesses close, workers lose their jobs and some of us never being able to experience amazing things we have spent our lives being able to experience in Dublin, unless we come together and get behind our capital city. That is what we need to do in the immediate future. We do not need petty politics or confidence motions. We need to back our capital, get into our city centre, do the shopping, have the pint, go to the restaurant and make sure everyone knows Dublin is open for business.

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