Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Our thoughts go out to the children and their carer who were so callously attacked a few days ago and left in a life-threatening condition. We should record the bravery with which passers-by reacted to the situation regardless of their own safety. They were prepared to help. That is the real spirit of Ireland. The real thinking people of Ireland are the ones who respond to the call of an emergency like that. In this House we expect a response of a similar nature. It disappointingly does not always come. We have to support the Minister. We have to support the Garda Commissioner, and we have to support law and order. It is a challenge to us, and to every Member of this House. Anybody who stands aloof, aloft and outside it and condemns from within the House the institutions of the State, the Government and the Minister is making a cheap attempt to politicise a tragic event. It is something we should not tolerate, and to which we must respond strongly. I also say that we will pay a high price for our diffidence or dissidence in this area. I also mention that the Garda Commissioner has not always been supported in this House in the past, and neither was his predecessor in the not too distant past. It is about time we copped ourselves on, and recognised that in this House each and every one of us has a role to play. Each and every one of us has a responsibility. We should not think about ways and means of embarrassing the Government, the forces of law and order or the institutions of the State. We have to stand responsible and support the forces of law and order too.

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