Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My sincere opinion is that having a vote of confidence in any Minister at this stage is wrong for the simple reason that what we are doing is giving a status to the people who wreaked havoc on our streets and our city. It is unthinkable that they would get one up on democracy by having a Minister lose her job over this. We have to focus on gardaí and how we can help them. I think about the young gardaí coming out of Templemore this week and next week to join the force over the Christmas period. Many of them will have come to Dublin and are brave enough to come up to Dublin and to participate in the Garda force. We should remember that, and I am proud of every one of them. We should also remember the gardaí who were out on duty that night. They are fathers, they are mothers, they could be brothers or sisters, or they could have had parents looking on at what was going on.

Today, with the back-and-over we have had here, we have shown a disregard for our gardaí. We have not spoken about them or given them the plaudits they need and deserve. Today is a day to do that. Both sides of the House need to wise up a small bit and make sure that, whatever we do, we get a whole-of-government approach to solving the issues that are there. It is not one Minister or one Department. Right across the Government, we need to see everybody put their shoulder to the wheel and we need the Opposition coming in behind them to make sure we save democracy and do not let it out of our hands and into the hands of the people who were on the streets last week.

See this speech in context