Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would have wished to be able to rise today and join in the well merited praise and congratulations to the board of works and join in the valedictory remarks welcoming each other back, but sadly it is my duty to do something very different. To follow on from Senator Feighan's remarks, I wish to publicly and personally condemn the horrific and barbaric attack on Mr. Kevin Lunney from Quinn Industrial Holdings. It is a shocking crime. No matter who or what the victim was, it would be a shocking crime, but I know that the crime has been exacerbated by the fact that Mr. Lunney has a very young family and was a particularly civic minded and wonderful contributor to his community. The crime is objectively horrible no matter what his job is. He is a very good man and that should go on the record. I commend the very courageous exposition by my friend and colleague, John McCartin, of the issues around this on "Claire Byrne Live" last night

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, to the House after a few weeks have elapsed. He will best judge when he can come here, but I do not think he could come to the House during the early phases of the investigation. I would like him to come to the House to provide assurance that a sufficient amount of Garda resources are going into the area and that things are being followed up. This demands a Limerick-style solution, as was necessary with the Dundon gang. It demands a similar solution to that which was necessary to deal with the gangland wars in Dublin. It demands the kind of response that we had to the tragic murder of Veronica Guerin some years ago. It is of that proportion and level of crisis.

I ask the Leader to join in the condemnation and, in particular, impress upon the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, the nature of the concerns I have articulated about policing numbers, treating the situation as an emergency and giving it a Limerick status.I ask that, at an appropriate time, the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, come to the House to make an appropriate statement. I have great confidence in the Minister, who has proven himself to be very capable in his Ministry, but it is my duty to know that this is transparent and is in front of this House. We have spoken about the preservation of Parliament abroad and we need to preserve the dignity and importance of our Parliament by having the Minister respond on this horrific issue. I am very saddened to have had to begin my contributions in this session on this subject.