Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

In recent weeks we have seen in Citywest and Drogheda absolute violence with the potential for children and adults to be murdered with that arson attack. That is the reality. The Government can talk about condemning and say it absolutely thinks this is disgraceful, but I encourage people to read what the Hope and Courage Collective has put out. It makes it clear that it is the words of political leaders that have fanned these flames. What they have done is they have dog whistled. The Minister of State can talk about it, but there is no denying that what the Tánaiste did was dog-whistling to the far right because it is cheap political right-wing populism; that is what it is. People are hurting. People are being devastated every day by the housing crisis. In my constituency, from Ballymun to Beaumont, I meet people who are really struggling. Ministers are dog-whistling in saying that all the immigrants and asylum seekers are to blame because we have messed up so badly. It is the Government's failures. It is disgraceful that Ministers have turned and dog-whistled, and are blaming immigrants, because the real cause of the housing crisis is their failures. Why are they not calling out the Irish landlords who are evicting people into homelessness? Why are they not talking about the 100,000 vacant and derelict homes? Ireland is not full; it is full of crap from this Government which has failed over and over. I absolutely condemn the way it has taken this turn.

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