Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like everybody else here, I add my condolences to the people in Carrickmines, to Garda Golden's family and to the family of the homeless man who died in Dublin over the weekend. The people in Carrickmines live just down the road from me. It was a halting site that was well in off the road. They were people who minded their own business, who went about their daily lives. To see two families wiped out so quickly and to see two young children orphaned is very tragic.There are points we could make today but, as Senator Paul Coghlan stated, this is not the time for recriminations.

With respect to the late Garda Golden, the Garda family are a close-knit group. Indeed, when my brother, who was a garda, died, the N11 was closed in order to allow his funeral travel out to Shanagarry. Today, the families and loved ones of gardaí who are going on duty this evening will be thinking about whether their fathers and mothers will return home later tonight. It will take some days for those feelings to pass. We must remember the Garda is one of the few police forces in the world that is unarmed and that officers walk into perilous situations every day of the week. Few of us ever give them a second thought because we rarely, if ever, need them. However, there are those who do need them, such as that woman who was in distress at the weekend. There was a garda willing to travel to her house and assist her and, sadly, he lost his own life while doing so. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.