Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with some of what my colleague, Senator Dooley, has said, but I disagree to an extent. The worst thing to happen in our country for a long time happened last Thursday morning with the stabbing of innocent people, including three young children and their carer. Our thoughts and prayers must remain, in particular, with the five-year-old child who remains in a critical condition and with her family. That was, by a mile, the worst thing that happened last Thursday, far worse than the violence, disorder and vandalism that took place later that day, appalling though it was. We need to keep that perspective because the safety of people is always more important than the safety of property. It is the safety of people that should be the lens through which to examine the statements and utterances from the Garda, the Taoiseach and the Government in recent days. Frankly, I do not need to know whether terms like "lunatic", "far right" and "hooligan" are in the Garda Commissioner's vocabulary. I do not need to hear the outrage. I want explanation of what happened and reassurance for the future. Why was the Garda unable to prevent arson and looting at first? How could some of its members have been endangered in the way that happened? Was the time it took to get control of the situation reasonable? What does the Garda need for the future to deal with these threats? It needs more personnel, more resources and, if necessary, more laws. I agree that the strongest measures of law and order are required in response to the thuggery on the streets but many people in Fine Gael in particular must be worried that their party in government has lost touch with the concerns of ordinary voters and gives the impression of being more interested in closing down public debate and in cancel culture than in keeping people safe in practical ways. Fianna Fáil is not immune either. Migration is part of last week's story. There are concerns about whether we are managing it in a way that identifies and deals with the small number of people who may come to our shores with mental health problems or extreme ideologies, perhaps exacerbated by past traumas. At the same time, a Brazilian immigrant who put his own safety at risk and perhaps saved children's lives last week exemplified the nobility and courage to which all Irish people should aspire. He reminded us that we should be generous to migrants because we may be entertaining angels unawares.

The events of last week do not point to a need for vague and imprecise hate speech legislation which undermines democratic rights to speak. The Government must step back from any opportunism here. It must step back from the temptation not to waste a good crisis. If there was incitement on social media, and there may well have been, it was incitement to violence. That is where the trouble is. These distinctions matter. The Government seems to want to avoid the discussion about how people are to be kept safe by pretending that if you can silence enough awkward questions and viewpoints, the problems will go away. We will have a better Ireland when we are generous to migrants, but when people also know they can keep their Government's feet to the fire in order that everyone can feel safe and free speech for our citizens is vital for that. There cannot be any elitist talking down to people about what topics they may discuss and what topics are forbidden. That does not work in a democracy; it only pushes things underground, stores up problems for the future. That is part of the story of what we are living now. I do not want to hear more talk from the Government, any cynical use of this crisis to push through vague, imprecise and dangerous hate speech legislation.