Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too want to pray for the little children who were stabbed, wronged, hurt and brutally injured in O’Connell Street on Thursday evening. I also condemn what happened after. These people are not deserving to be named as some kind of political category by affording them or calling them the far right. I call them thugs and blackguards, which is what they are. This is the worst kind of thuggery and they are the worst kind of blackguards.

I have been called out inside in this Chamber tonight and all I will say for now is that I will continue to represent the communities I have been elected to represent, regardless of what is thrown at me inside here.

Maybe the Government is not listening enough on certain issues such as healthcare, housing, immigration and policing. We have to appreciate our gardaí for the great work they do. I ask the Minister if the gardaí are operating with one hand tied behind their backs. It seems to me that many questions have been asked. Are they allowed to draw their batons or are they not in a case like this? We have seen a fine man in the middle of O’Connell Street, a garda, and he had to back away from them.

I remember a time when there was a garda in Killarney, a sergeant, and he kept law and order. He was not afraid to put people in their place and people respected him for what he did. We are not respecting the gardaí now. I am asking the Minister as well if there were 90 gardaí here somewhere close to O’Connell Street. Perhaps they were up around here with four horses at their disposal. Why were they not allowed to go down in O’Connell Street?

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