Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I extend my sympathies to all those injured in the knife attack on Thursday, especially to the five-year-old girl and her carer who are in hospital and whose conditions are serious, and to their families. This riot was organised and orchestrated by Ireland's far-right, by openly racist and fascist groups. These groups like to portray themselves as the defenders of women and children. Women and children are in far more danger from the kind of toxic masculinity promoted by these groups than from anything else in society. These groups will not stop at constructing a toy gallows outside the Dáil or organising a riot. They want to up the ante. They will be emboldened by the events of last Thursday night and already there are reports since Thursday of intensified racist abuse, harassment and attacks.

The Minister and the Government failed to listen and pay sufficient attention when migrants were targeted and asylum seeker accommodation was blockaded, when the LGBT+ community reported a sharp increase in hate crimes and when library workers were targeted and subjected to racist abuse. The Government is also responsible for failing to tackle the social conditions which underlie the rioting and looting. To be clear, I am totally opposed to the rioting and looting but I am not blind to the fact that much of it is underpinned by hopelessness and despair caused by social conditions. Mention also needs to be made of those Deputies in this Chamber, such as Deputy Mattie McGrath and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, who consistently pepper their speeches with the talking points of the far-right. I am a Dáil Deputy for Cork North-Central. In Cork, the most serious blows dealt to date to the far-right have not been by State repression or a law and order approach. It has been by protests organised by the Fórsa union with the support of the LGBTQ+ community, librarians and the left in the city. Workers' action is a potential game-changer here. The ICTU protest yesterday must be a beginning, not an end in itself. There needs to be a discussion in every workplace as to how migrant workers can be protected by their fellow workers. Bus workers, for example, took practical action on Thursday when they took buses off the road on health and safety grounds. Workplaces that organise against racism should be given help and resources by unions up to and including bringing people together on a city-wide and national basis. A major trade union national demonstration should be organised now against the far-right for early 2024. An injury to one is an injury to all.

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