Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will first register that we are again here, months after the general election, to make statements. We need to move on. The Government is complaining about a lack of Dáil business. We are making statements into a void and nothing will actually happen afterwards.

I live in a working class community where crime is an issue and I represent many communities where it is an issue. People certainly have the right to ring the Garda and get a response but we need a police force that is accountable and answerable to the community. This day last week, we had a debate on one of the biggest aspects of crime there is, violence against women, and there was very little interest from the Government benches. There are three Government Members here today. There was one here last week. Some 52% of women experience sexual violence. That is a very significant number of people in our community.

I also represent a very diverse electorate and, in many meetings I have had with people from migrant and minority backgrounds, the fear in which they live has been very noticeable. Contrary to what some in this Dáil might say, the people who are most at risk from crime are people from migrant backgrounds. I had a meeting with Pakistani taxi drivers in my community. They have lived and worked in Ireland for over 20 years. They registered the fear they are feeling because there is now so much racism in society that, if anyone says anything to them and they respond, the whole situation will escalate. This applies to health workers as well. Hate crime increased by 12% in 2023. Some 60% of people from migrant backgrounds report that they have experienced hate or harassment. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said that one in four non-white people had experienced racism in the last 12 months while 31% had witnessed it happening to people they were with. More gardaí on the beat is not the answer because people from minority backgrounds have a real fear of how they are going to be treated by gardaí. The ICCL reports that 83% fear racial profiling or discrimination in their interactions with gardaí. In my own constituency, George Nkencho was the first black person to be shot and killed by gardaí. That is a real fear for a great many young black people in this society. That would not have happened and he would be alive today if he was white. There is absolutely no question that racial bias played a role in that and in the subsequent cover-up.

See this speech in context