Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The brutal and unprovoked stabbings of innocent children, two girls aged five and six and a boy aged five, and the innocent crèche worker, Leanne Flynn, who used her body as a human shield outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire last week, are shocking. Our thoughts and prayers are with the five-year-old girl who remains in critical condition in the hospital and the care worker who was critically injured. We can say all we like, but knife attacks on children lining up outside their school and young women going out for a run are simply not something we like to see in our country. I can also say, as the grandparent of seven young girls and three boys, that this is a horrifying thing to see. I will not say anything about the comments made about our group and myself. That will be dealt with in another forum. As I said, we all want to unite in this.

Thankfully, I walked from Eccles Street to the House today, as I did last Tuesday morning. It was lovely on O’Connell Street today, and that is the message we want to send out.

There is no room for these thugs who have hijacked this. There is also no room for the establishment parties over the past days calling this on the far right. There may be elements of the far right in this definitely but this was pure wanton thuggery, opportunistic robbery and vandalism, with the incitement to attack this store and that store. We did not see any work boots stolen from any of the shops they raided. These people have time on their hands and deprivation and inner-city neglect is a big issue here. Certainly, the revolving door system and the courts system, and the barristers in this House for decades, also need to take account. The gardaí are doing their best and we must always support them. The revolving doors, getting into court and let out again not charged or getting away on bail with multiple convictions, has to be tackled.

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