Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a former teacher, the week running into the "Late Late Toy Show" is very special in almost every primary school. I know the school concerned as I walk past it most mornings when I come into the Dáil because I stay in that part of Dublin. Last week, their little innocent world was shattered into a million pieces. It is our job to try to make sure their mams, dads and teachers feel we have their backs and will look after them. It is not in anybody's interest that this place turns in on itself when our democracy is threatened and attacked in the fashion it has been. Back in the seventies and eighties, when this country's democracy was attacked and undermined, this House united to protect it. Now, this House must unite in the face of people who claim to oppose what happened to that poor innocent little child and her teacher outside the school but in fact were only looking for an opportunity to do what they did. It is not a time for this House, in the words of some people at the weekend in reference to the Minister for Justice, to have her "taken out". We should accept that our democracy is being threatened, as are the very foundation principles on which we are put in here as custodians of that democracy and take our position more seriously than ever, drop partisanship outside and unite in the face of something that could not just happen to that poor misfortunate child outside the Gaelscoil in the north inner city but could come to all of our communities. We have a duty of care, not in a political sense but to that child who should have been able to watch the "Late Late Toy Show" on the night like all of her peers. This time next year, we should be able to say that, regardless of the ideas and suggestions people come forward with in here, the Government will take them on board. That is our duty and should be our obligation going forward.

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