Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I could say lots about the budget and I will do so when we have statements this evening. The things that I will speak about are not unlinked in context to budget decisions and conversations.

I read an article dated 25 September that stated Fine Gael limits conversation or debate on joyriding in which the Chair of the Joint Committee on Justice was quoted. It was a private committee meeting but the Chair did not hide behind it. He was literally quoted and delved into a private committee meeting on what was meant to be a meeting on community safety, which did not mean inviting in two or three Garda representative bodies. The rest of the committee understood that very well. I thanked Deputy Carroll MacNeill, Senator Ward and others who advocated for a well thought out session on community safety that includes the Irish Youth Justice Service and the other Department of Justice organisations like youth workers, and local people. We discussed how we can have a real conversation on trauma, and the impacts of trauma and poverty.

The Chair literally used a situation that happens in communities like mine, where communities are on their knees, to play politics against another party about a private committee meeting. That showed me where people's care lies when it comes to this subject. What actually happened at the meeting was a real conversation about how we can support communities. We cannot do that by only inviting in Garda representatives and only framing the debate through the lens of Garda safety. I say that because Garda safety should mean safety for the young men in those communities because if they are safe then behaviours change. If they are safe, and their poverty situations and access to education change, then everybody is safer. People must work on the root cause if we hope to ever have a long-term effect on anything, which was understood by those in that committee room. I am absolutely appalled that a Fianna Fáil member would use his position and have details splashed all over the Irish Mail on Sundayat the weekend. It is a misrepresentation of the conversation. It is a misrepresentation of the contributions made by the two Fine Gael members who joined the meeting because they actually said this is not about adding heat, that we have to be responsible, make sure we have a conversation, and should hold off for about four weeks and then consider the witnesses who come in so that we have an enabling and empowering conversation not a stigmatising conversation. I thank for that and I just cannot believe that a private committee meeting was used in such a way.