Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will also share time with the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin.

The recent violence in Dublin could not be more serious. It cannot be tolerated in our democratic Republic. It represents a challenge to all of us here to show we have a politics which is capable of treating serious issues with urgency and with a focus on action. The sad reality is this debate has nothing to do with the issues of policing in Dublin and divisive radicalisation. It is yet again solely about Sinn Féin pursuing its cynical and aggressive approach to opposition, an approach which puts electoral politics first in everything. It is an approach which seeks to intimidate opponents and journalists alike. Quite frankly, this cynicism and aggression continues to directly undermine the ability of our democratic institutions and democratically elected representatives to work constructively on issues.

There is not even the faintest hint of sincerity in the attacks Sinn Féin has launched on the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in the past two weeks. At the core of Sinn Féin's attack is the claim by Deputy McDonald that everyone could see the disorder coming and that the Minister did nothing in the face of demands for action. Deputy McDonald has a privilege open to no other Member of this House; she can set the political agenda at the start of most sitting days in Leaders' Questions. She has the freedom, almost unique in the democratic world, of the daily opportunity to raise any issue she wants. If she thinks something dangerous is imminent, she can stand here and demand action with the certainty it will receive widespread coverage. Yet in spite of her claim the dogs in the street knew a riot was about to happen, the Dáil record shows that in the past three months, during Leaders' Questions, she never once raised the violence she now says was obviously about to break out.

Deputy McDonald is one of the Deputies for the north inner city of Dublin. She claims to have been aware of a rising tide of extremism, yet did not think it was important enough to come in here as a party leader and demand action. If Deputy McDonald was concerned about gardaí being abused in O'Connell Street, all she needed to do was consult her front bench, which includes unique expertise on such behaviour. If she had thought criminal elements in the north inner city were a threat, she might have been more open when answering questions about her personal support for the political career of a notorious violent criminal, a person with direct links to the nastiest gang ever seen in this city.

After many years of close association with an organisation which Deputy McDonald's own constituency organiser, and a former adviser to Michelle O'Neill, last week told the High Court was criminal and terroristic, Sinn Féin continues to demand that basic standards accepted by every other party not be applied to its behaviour. It is true that in the past 12 months, there has been an attempt by Sinn Féin to claim to be on the side of law and order. However, the defining characteristic of the party's approach to policing, on both sides of the Border, has been its conditionality. Support has been given and withdrawn depending on what suits that party and whether one of its own members is being investigated.

The truth is we can all see through the opportunism and cynicism at the heart of this debate. It is a terrible statement about Sinn Féin's approach to serious issues that its first impulse after the violence was to see how to get political advantage out of it. In the appalling words of Deputy O'Reilly, which I hope she will have the decency to withdraw, Sinn Féin decided to "take out" the Minister, Deputy McEntee. For a party with Sinn Féin's connections to call for an opponent to be taken out is not something we should allow to be normalised.

There is no doubt but there are extremist elements, a Cheann Comhairle, who exploited the tragic stabbings on Parnell Square. As they have done in many other instances, they have sought to promote the idea of rising conflict and the need for people to take direct action. They seek to exploit and develop fears and turn them into the types of aggressive divisions which have been common in far too many countries. Throughout the world, studies have shown we are living in an age when polarisation is happening at a rapid pace, because it is being actively encouraged by forces on the left and the right. Political opponents are no longer being presented as people you disagree with but as enemies and bad-faith actors. Separate information bubbles are feeding this extremism and undermining the ability to have political debates focused on serious discussions rather than angry arguments. There is simply no way of denying this is happening in Ireland as well. The language of "take back our country", "patriots defend our society" and other such far-right language only needs to find a small audience for it to cause very serious damage. Where the aggression steps over the line and becomes threatening, we have to have the laws and enforcement necessary to act. Just as important, we have to speak out against those who seek to promote and then exploit division.

It also must be said the atmosphere which feeds aggression and division is much wider and there are those here who contribute to it. Nearly every person here who holds ministerial office has seen this in the rising number of cases of verbal abuse and intimidation. Look at how casually members of some parties accuse others of being traitors and betraying the nation and you will see people contributing to a dangerous atmosphere. Only this weekend, the People Before Profit group distributed leaflets in Cork city centre which had the headline "The police are not on our side". The previous weekend, hundreds stood by as the headquarters of Department of Foreign Affairs were vandalised. In recent weeks, we have also seen loud abuse directed at members of the Government on the issue of Gaza, in spite of our active and almost unmatched support for the people of Gaza. If you promote aggression towards your opponents, if you sit in Parliament but claim the legitimacy of the street, if you ignore abuse by your own supporters against your opponents and independent journalists, then you are directly feeding the atmosphere of aggressive and divisive activism we should all be opposing.

Our thoughts are first and foremost with those who were shockingly attacked last month, namely, the children and their carer, and we should all unite behind the work of An Garda Síochána and what it did that week. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and Commissioner Harris have been fully open and candid about what happened in Dublin. They have shown their personal commitment to taking action. I and my party will be voting confidence in the Minister today because we have far more faith in her commitment to action than we do in the cynical politics of personal aggression being shown by Sinn Féin.

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