Gerard Craughwell (Independent)

I would like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the death of Garda Flatley to his wife, his two daughters and his extended family. As my colleagues have mentioned, 90 gardaí have left their homes to go on duty and never returned.There are also the gardaí who left their homes, went on duty and were injured while on duty. I am mindful of my young brother, who was sitting in the family home in Galway while visiting my mother and father and watching the RTÉ equivalent of "Prime Time" or whatever it was called at that time. There was a piece on about prisoners in Mountjoy Prison. As he was watching the programme, one of the prisoners came on and explained about how, as a sufferer from AIDS, he was being treated so badly. The prisoner in question had bitten my brother. My brother was sitting in the house and this was the first knowledge he had of having been bitten by somebody with AIDS. He left the house quietly, came back to Dublin and went to a physician, who subsequently diagnosed him with hepatitis. He died at 47 years old. I have no doubt that what happened to him led to an early death. There were other circumstances as well but I have no doubt but that it led to an early death.

On social media every night, we see thugs walking beside gardaí filming them for social media, taunting them and trying to get them into a situation where they will injure themselves. We need to put legislation in place to protect gardaí while they are out on duty. I welcome the body cameras and similar things that will come down the line. There need to be tough sentences for those who interfere with a garda carrying out his or her lawful duty. It has been going on in this country for far too long now. I offer my sympathy with the Flatleys but also with all the gardaí who are today sitting at home unable to work because of disablement.