Eoghan Harris (Independent)

On a more important matter, I support Senator Hanafin's call for a debate on the Middle East. I have been reading transcripts of debates held in this House and there has been a lot of unchallenged posturing directed against Israel as a force of occupation. I would welcome a debate and the chance to set the record straight.

The matter that should concern us, because it is within our remit, is the attack on Garda Paul Sherlock yesterday. I deplore the removal of capital sanctions for those who kill policemen because all states are founded on force. Those who risk their lives on the front line deserve our full support and I do not only mean policemen. I also mean the Army and firemen, two of whom lost their lives yesterday. Those who put their bodies on the line earn the highest respect in any society.

Even if we remove capital sanctions from those who shoot policemen there should be capital consequences for such actions. In areas where gang culture is now enshrined, such as Dublin, Limerick and parts of Cork, the Garda Commissioner should consider the strategic arming and training of policemen. The days of the unarmed bobby patrolling the streets of this country should be over.

There is a great deal of political correctness in our society's response to violence and it is founded on the delusion of the left wing that all crime is a function of society malfunctioning. If this was the case then every traveller would be a criminal and every graduate of Trinity College and University College Dublin, UCD, would be a saint.