Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The party of political opportunism strikes again. Those in Sinn Féin were not so opportunistic back in 2020 when they had the chance to go into government. They chose instead to avoid the responsibility and leave the job of leading the country through a pandemic to someone else, thankfully. Sinn Féin decided they would take the course that benefited them most. They chose to sit on the sidelines in opposition and seek to make political capital of every issue which faces our country, and here we go again. Even the horses and the greyhounds saw another policy U-turn last week.

The party of sloganeering and soundbites were out in force across the media following the riots, with no other motive than political gain. The hypocrisy has been astounding. Nobody is safe. Last week, we saw the photo of a vulnerable man, who clearly had his own personal issues, used for political gain here in the Chamber and on social media. Where is your moral compass or even your basic decency?

Sinn Féin know they will lose this vote by a very clear margin. Their only objective is to keep this in the news cycle so they can continue to snipe and chirp from the sidelines about the justice brief. Is it not a pity that they are not so forthright when it comes to speaking on their own justice policy? This is the party that does not support the Special Criminal Court, the court that convicted the party leader’s good friend, the donor and Sinn Féin stalwart, Jonathan Dowdall. It is a long-standing party policy that is a slap in the face to victims of organised crime and our security services.

Sinn Féin claims to know what is best for our gardaí. Does this include Detective Jerry McCabe, with his convicted killers shoulder-high at its Ard-Fheis in 2009?

See this speech in context