Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I was reminded of a comment made by Miriam Lord in her excellent analysis of last weekend. Senator Minihan referred to string pullers with their mobile phones which indicates there was an orchestrated, focused attack rather than something involving a yobbish, random element. When they decided to relocate from O'Connell Street to Leinster House, the quote from one of these young thugs was "The Leinster House, where is that?" It shows it is not enough to say we need to educate people. Perhaps we are, to some degree, talking in a vacuum.

I echo what Senator O'Toole said and I support the call for a deeper debate on this issue, although not necessarily an inquiry. We should have more than just statements because democracy is a fragile flower and we were lulled into a false feeling of security in the post-Agreement era, about which Senator Brian Hayes spoke. Senator O'Toole speaks for me and I am sure for many other Irish people in that we did not think there would be any difficulty about people with a particular point of view marching down the main street of Dublin.

For some considerable time, a parallel universe has been in operation in this society where people do not recognise the legitimacy of the State and the right of the Garda Síochána to speak for us and who believe their army is the legitimate army of this country. I make no apologies for saying it is a wake up call for democracy and that what went on last Saturday may not be an isolated incident. In a sense, it did not surprise me because anybody who has gone to Lansdowne Road in the past few years will have seen people wearing the jersey of a particular football club. Given the number of sectarian comments spat out by these people at somebody who might have at some time played for the opposing club, one should not have been too surprised to see the same element on O'Connell Street last Saturday. It is all bound up in the attitude that perhaps we have been silent for too long in tolerating naked sectarianism in our society. Perhaps it is time we, as politicians, took a stand on this issue.

While I fully understand Senator Higgins's noble aspirations in regard to Irish emigrants, I do not share his view because the diaspora is diverse and complex. Who would represent the diaspora if he stood down? Perhaps we should look into our own hearts and acknowledge that politicians in both Houses should address the long-standing neglect of the issues raised by the diaspora. We, in this elected Chamber, should address those issues rather than pay lip-service to appointing an individual who may or may not represent the diaspora.