Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today our sympathies, thoughts and prayers are with those who were killed in the mass shooting in Las Vegas. To their families and friends we send our heartfelt condolences. What happened in Las Vegas, as is often the case, is a failure of politics to regulate and control the ownership of guns. Whatever about the constitution of the United States of America, the fact that families have been left without children and loved ones because of this fundamental right to bear arms and the inability of politics to regulate that, is a shameful indictment of the whole political system.

Systems fail, as we saw in Las Vegas. We previously saw this tragically in the United States at Sandy Hook elementary school where, despite the fact that six adults and 20 children were murdered and massacred, no change occurred. When things like that happen and when failures happen in politics, whether it be in Ireland or anywhere else, change needs to occur. Unfortunately, as we have seen so often in the past, it has come all too late for the bereaved and the loved ones of those who were killed in Las Vegas. Our sympathies to all who have been caught up in those tragic events.