Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank an Cathaoirleach. When I drove in this morning, I listened to a podcast by two inner city lads. I listened not because I was unfamiliar with the story - I am very familiar with it - but because I was interested to hear an update on it. The podcast was about Terence Wheelock and the Wheelock family. The family has called again for an independent review into Terence's death. I first became aware of the Wheelock family when they lived in my estate before they moved into the inner city many years ago when we were children. Later on I became good friends with Terence's brother, Larry, who died some years ago. Larry died without seeing what he felt was real justice for his younger brother, who was arrested for something he did not do, who was not seen awake again and who died a few months after falling into a coma. As I listened to the podcast, I remembered the discrepancies relating to the case and why an independent review is needed. It also got me thinking about the wider issue of policing, even after all these years, and especially for me as I was growing up.

I have avoided this issue time and again. For the past two hours, I have really tried to think about why I am avoiding the subject and why I avoid talking about police violence. It is not just about the use of force and restraint in a necessary way, it is the use of real violence against people in communities that are over-policed. To be honest, in the short time I spent thinking about why I do not speak about the matter this morning, I recalled the many occasions when I have tried to speak about it and when I was met with a love fest of all the things the gardaí are great and good at and people recounting the great experiences they had with this or that garda. The latter completely dismisses the experiences of communities which are over-policed and which do not have the same luxury of that experience. Then we go silent.

One of my most extreme memories dates from when I was young and involves a garda chasing one of the young men from my estate. I can only describe the scene as like the scene in the film "American History X". If people have seen that film, they will know the violent scene to which I refer. I remember as a young girl watching the scene and what the garda did to that young lad. I was only a child, maybe about ten. When I wrote my book, I went back to the man involved I asked him if he could tell me if I remembered it correctly. Sometimes these memories are so extreme I think that it could not have happened like that, but it did. I would have experienced violence at the hands of gardaí. Nobody's positive experience with authority should ever negate the negative experience of other people. They can both exist within the same institution and in the same space. We need to be able to talk about this matter. I ask the Leader for a debate on policing, but not in its broadest sense because this is when the negative experiences are flushed down. Can we have a real conversation about the unnecessary use of violence within the police force? I would very much appreciate that.