Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government has called Sinn Féin's attempt to hold the Government to account a distraction. I put it to those opposite that Fine Gael must have been distracted in the past 12 years that it has held the justice portfolio. On Fine Gael's watch, there are almost 500 fewer gardaí in Dublin since it came into government. Was it distracted when two gardaí who were on overtime from Ronanstown in my area were brutally attacked in Ballyfermot?

Was Fine Gael distracted when a rocket was fired at a garda during a protest? Was it distracted when the rank and file gardaí voted no confidence in the Garda Commissioner? Was it distracted when the US Embassy warned its country's citizens that Dublin was not safe? Was it distracted when Dublin burned two weeks ago?

As a father whose children also attended a Gaelscoil, I was appalled by the barbaric attack on three children and their carer outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. The level of destruction and lawlessness that followed that attack in my city last week was unacceptable and inexcusable but this did not happen in isolation. The Minister has allowed things to escalate. She constantly mentions 3,000 Garda vehicles. Does she know how many Garda vehicles were available in Clondalkin and Ballyfermot one day last week? There was one Garda car for the whole area, which is a really disadvantaged area. Our communities feel abandoned by Fine Gael. The Minister walked around Dublin with a fine Garda escort and declared our city safe. I have worked as an outreach worker, meeting some of the hardest to reach members of our society in our city and in our suburbs. I have lived in Dublin my whole life and, for the first time, I do not feel as safe here. The Minister has allowed law and order to disintegrate under her watch.

The reason I have no confidence in Deputy McEntee as Minister is that, in order to fix the problem, you have to recognise that there is a problem. The Minister believes that Dublin is safe. Workers and families will disagree with her and the escalation of violence in my city will contradict her. The definition of "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Replacing one failed Fine Gael Minister for Justice with another Fine Gael Minister for Justice will not bring about the change that is needed. I have no confidence in Deputy McEntee as Minister for Justice and I have no confidence in this Government.

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