Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I called for this debate last week. I decided not to call a vote on the Order of Business on the day in question, which was a week and a day ago, to facilitate a debate this week. I did so in the hope that the Minister would produce something that would give a little hope to those of us who are trying to come up with a comprehensive response to what is happening in the Coolock area. However, it would be an understatement to say that I am disappointed with what we have heard from the Minister this afternoon.

I would like remind the Minister of what happened in the north inner city at the beginning of this Government's term in office. It bears repeating that in response to a cycle of murder at that time, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, commissioned a task force. Every stakeholder in the task force came to the conclusion that we could not police our way out of the cycle of murder. The reasons behind the cycle had to be investigated. Why was it that every time a young man is murdered - it tends to be young men who get murdered - there always was someone else, possibly younger, willing to step into his place? The task force spoke to principals, teachers, community workers, people involved with the local drugs task force, representatives of community organisations and local public representatives. The proposals that the task force came up with seem to have worked because they indicated that the Government cared and wanted to get results. The task force is still in existence and the ripple effect of what it achieved is still being felt.

I worked in a school in the north inner city approximately ten years ago at a time when there was a feud in the local area. I used to go to work every day during the feud, which had an indescribable effect on the children of the community. A dark cloud of fear and tension hangs over a school, a local area and an entire community while the violent crime associated with such a feud is ongoing. I am reluctant to name areas because I do not want to stigmatise them. I have spoken, however, to a school principal in the Dublin 17 area of a school that had a murder committed outside its gate. A little dedication to the young man who died is still in place outside the school gate. The principal told me about how traumatised his pupils were. We discussed the possibility that the school will lose a much-needed teacher.

For the best part of a year, I have been asking in a non-partisan and constructive way for the Government to replicate in Dublin 17 what it did in Dublin 1. I am still not getting a "Yes". I just do not understand why the Government will not do this. I am asking it to collect a group of people in a room, where they will speak to something deeper and more profound than just policing. They should talk about inequality, job opportunities, educational disadvantage, the nature of drug use and the nature of pain and trauma. They should talk about the disadvantage that has resulted in five murders in seven months in the recent past. I am not the only person who has a terrible suspicion that if there were five murders in seven months in Stepaside, Portlaoise or Castleknock, there might be a different response from the Government.

The Minister mentioned the national drugs strategy as a new way forward. I was one of nine former Ministers of State who signed a statement last month criticising the Government for its inability to hear the voice of the community sector in that strategy. Unbelievably, every former Minister of State with responsibility for drugs, going back to the 1990s, signed this statement. We come from three different political parties. Nobody wants to make political hay out of murder. Although I genuinely have no interest in trying to score political points out of murder, I think people in this House, in the other House and in society need to know that this is not normal. The idea of a child walking past crime scene tape on the way to school should break everybody's heart. The State should do absolutely everything in its power to ensure such a scene is not repeated.

The Minister could have walked in today and said that he has listened to what we have said and appreciates the success of the initiative in Dublin 1, where people feel that the State is working well because community organisations and local representatives are being listened to. The Minister could have acknowledged that we cannot police our way out of this and explained that he knows what comes from disadvantage and disempowerment. He could have said he knows the Government needs to have engagement with the Garda but that other issues must be talked about as well. In fairness, what the Government did in Dublin 1 seems to have had a level of success and should be replicated in another area where there has been a cycle of murder. If the Minister had taken such an approach, I would have been the first person to say that he has his finger on the pulse, understands the issues and is advocating for solutions. I would have been the first person to congratulate him. However, I cannot do so because I have not heard what I need to hear. I am genuinely lost for words because it would be so simple.

If the Minister were to act on my recommendation, he would get such engagement and such appreciation from families that are suffering from drug intimidation. I have been told that parents are not allowing their children to go outside any more. If one visits certain parts of the north side in glorious sunshine, one does not hear the laughter of children as they play. Their parents are keeping them inside because of the nature of the atmosphere in which they are living and growing up. Families are saying they just want to get out. When I proposed the idea of a task force, I was trying to get beyond the classic Punch and Judy debate on Garda numbers that goes over and back between the Opposition and the Government. I was trying to find something deeper, more profound and longer lasting. The Minister has just rebuffed it. He was a member of the Government that established the north inner city task force. The current Government can deliver on the proposal I have made but the Minister has said that it does not intend to do so. I just do not get it.

We needed to have a campaign for a new Garda station in Dublin 13. It was announced in June that this campaign had been successful. We appreciate the decision that has been made in this regard because the many new families in this growing community need a proper policing resource. However, if the Minister thinks that coming in here and giving us a list of Garda numbers will solve the issue, he is wrong. I honestly do not think he gets it.