Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the aftermath of the situation that unveiled itself in the inner city in recent times, it falls upon us all in this House to put our support behind the Minister and behind the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána to ensure law and order remain central facets of our lives. If they do not, then turmoil follows. When Kristallnacht was in hand in the 1930s in central Europe the hard right and the hard left were on the streets protesting in common cause. Protesting against what? What it amounts to in this particular situation is this: the public want a response from the people in this House to what happened in the inner city when Garda cars were burned and other vehicles were burned, including public transport vehicles. Dublin was held up across the globe as being an unsavoury place to live. Great damage was done. The response that comes from this House now must be to support the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice. I do not think all of Sinn Féin are bad. Some people on its benches would not want to go this way. I appeal to them to think carefully about it. The Opposition of today could be the Government of tomorrow. We never know when or where. Everybody in the House will be called upon again at some stage to stand up and be counted on which side we are on.

There can be no sides when it comes to the kind of violence we saw on the streets of our city, which was portrayed all over the world.

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