Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I seek leave to amend the Order of Business to table the Order for Second Stage for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017.

I raise with the Leader the issue of the ongoing Garda controversy and question marks over the tenure of the Garda Commissioner, senior Garda management and the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality. To bring it down to street level, while great emphasis has been put on this controversy, the Garda is dealing with ongoing community issues daily. In fairness to the Taoiseach, when the north inner city was in the media spotlight for violent crime, he made a significant commitment to engaging with the community and established a commission to report on the situation. The Taoiseach was very well received, as was the commission report by Mr. Kieran Mulvey. I ask the Leader to update Members on that report. These issues have faded from the public eye but people still live in these communities. I was a school principal in that area and taught in that community for 11 years. It should not take a killing, a feud or criminal activity for us to notice what is happening in the north inner city. It is a vibrant community. A lot is going on there but the implementation of this report will be very important. While the headlines and the political comings and goings around the Garda Commissioner and other Garda issues in the public domain are very important, gardaí on the ground are doing their best to police a vibrant community in an area which faces major challenges. The commission report needs to be implemented. The chairmanship of that report is I believe still to be determined.

May I pay a tribute to the Taoiseach? The Taoiseach visited my local GAA club, Scoil Uí Chonaill GAA club on the Clontarf Road, which is attended by a significant number of children from the north inner city. He was incredibly well received and to be honest he really was very engaged with the children, the club members and what was happening in that club, which does a great deal of work. In fairness, nobody on our side of the House wishes to question his commitment to dealing with what was happening in the north inner city but at this juncture, it is important for us to see the implementation of the findings of that report. We cannot really wait for the next shooting, the next episode of gangland violence or the next headline before that debate happens in this House. It is at this stage, while we are in a period in which there is relative calm and people are getting on with their lives and want to go to the next level, that we should start talking the rebuilding of communities in that proud area.