Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann has confidence in the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD.

We will debate a lot of things over the next two hours, but I want to reiterate that our thoughts are first and foremost with the schoolchildren and their carer who were so brutally and senselessly attacked last Thursday week. Two remain in hospital this evening and we hope they make a recovery. I also want to restate my gratitude to those who risked their lives to save other lives and to thank the gardaí and front-line, council, transport and retail workers, of all nationalities, for their response to the riots that ensued. Their response demonstrates the power of people working together and I believe they, and the public at large, want us in this House to work together to make our capital’s streets safer. The issue of confidence is a distraction from that important work.

I have known the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, for nearly 20 years. I worked on her by-election campaign after the sad death of her father Shane and I had the privilege of appointing her as Minister with responsibility for European affairs in 2017, when I first became Taoiseach, to work alongside the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and me on the important issue of Brexit. Helen is trustworthy, sincere, intelligent and loyal. She is someone I turn to in difficult times and is never afraid to show her mettle when challenged, as she has in the past week or two. I am thankful for her work as Minister for Justice, carrying on my party’s tradition of law and order, alongside a wide agenda of reform, as well as cracking down on crime, helping victims and improving access to justice. Her record speaks for itself.

Recruitment to An Garda Síochána is recovering post pandemic, with up to 800 new recruits entering Templemore this year alone. She has negotiated the highest ever budget for the Garda, over 20% higher than when she started in office in 2020. We now have the largest fleet of vehicles in the organisation’s history, with around 100 extra Garda cars and vans due by the end of this year. Gardaí will soon have body-worn cameras for the first time, with the first phase due to start in Dublin early next year. This will improve their safety, as well as evidence gathering.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is introducing facial recognition technology to enable retrospective viewing of CCTV footage, freeing up thousands of hours of Garda time. She has already doubled the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, increased the sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life and increased the sentence for assaulting a Garda or emergency worker from seven to 12 years. She is also working to crack down on the proceeds of organised crime. The number of gang-related murders has fallen significantly on her watch. She is working on the overhaul of archaic licensing and night-time entertainment laws, reforming our defamation laws, modernising our outdated incitement to hatred and hate crime laws and creating a new dedicated family court. No Minister has done more than she has to combat violence against women. She has also appointed more judges and has plans to expand prison capacity.

I know we need to ensure people are safe and feel safe in Dublin city centre. I have committed, as Taoiseach, that the full resources of the State will be available to the Minister and Garda Commissioner, and I will make sure that there is leadership and co-ordination from my office in that regard. We need a tough response to the riots. That is clear. We also need to understand why some people reacted in the way they did and to what extent the riots were orchestrated by subversive elements. These riots do not reflect the wishes of the vast majority of people in Dublin’s north inner city. I know that. Of the 48 people arrested, only four were resident in Dublin 1.

In politics we will always have disagreements, but there also needs to be a sense of proportion and balance and unity in times of real crisis. The Sinn Féin motion of no confidence was a political stunt, unnecessary and counter-productive. People want us to work together to improve law and order, not just in Dublin but across the country. Removing the justice Minister and the Garda Commissioner, which is Sinn Féin policy, would be a victory for those who engaged in and incited violence on our streets. It would embolden them to strike again. That alone should be sufficient reason to vote with the Government tonight.

I would not have confidence in a Sinn Féin member becoming Minister for Justice. I would not have confidence in a Sinn Féin member, as Minister for Justice, proposing the appointment of the next Garda Commissioner. Sinn Féin has talked a lot about horrific events unfolding in the Middle East, and rightly so, but it will not acknowledge war crimes that may have happened in this country, crimes committed in our name by terrorists the Irish people always rejected, crimes like the Enniskillen and Warrington bombings, in which children were killed. Their justification is reminiscent: it was not deliberate; they were not being targeted; they were just collateral damage. Nor will it acknowledge crimes like the murders of Garda Jerry McCabe, Patrick Kelly and Brian Stack. Of course, Sinn Féin politicians, when asked, and they are not asked often, will use every word imaginable to avoid admitting that these were crimes and that the perpetrators were criminals who should be dishonoured, brought to justice and punished. That is why we cannot have a Sinn Féin Taoiseach, a Sinn Féin justice Minister and a Sinn Féin defence Minister, in the next Government or any Government.

The events of 23 November were a real shock and were not something we are used to in Ireland, thankfully. We need to make sure these were exceptional events and I vow that we will. For those who are listening at home, I encourage you to come to Dublin city over the festive period to support our businesses and show solidarity with city centre communities. There is an increased Garda presence and it is highly visible. We will be doing everything we can to make sure you are safe, feel safe at all times and get home safely.

Mar a dúirt mé an tseachtain seo caite, mar Rialtas, beimid gan staonadh ó thaobh ár saoránaigh agus daoine a chosaint. Beidh gardaí ar na sráideanna agus déanfaidh siad aon rud atá ag teastáil ionas go mothóidh daoine sábháilte. As I said last week, as a Government we will be relentless in protecting our citizens and defending our people and their property. Gardaí will be on the streets and visible and will do whatever it takes to make sure people are safe and feel safe.

A Cheann Comhairle, it is an honour for me to express my full confidence in my friend and colleague Deputy Helen McEntee. I commend this motion to the House.

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