Over the May Day weekend the Government used thousands of gardaí to put a cordon of steel around the Phoenix Park, allegedly to deal with thousands of violent hooligans whom the Government and the usual elements in the press fraudulently claimed were going to cause mayhem on the streets of Dublin. Did it occur to the Minister that gardaí may have been facing in the wrong direction on the day? The Government had as its guests the prime ministers of the occupation powers in Iraq which were responsible only five weeks ago for the slaughter of hundreds of women and children in Falluja and for the systematic torture and abuse of prisoners. Did it occur to the Ministers that the Government ought to have directed some gardaí to question these prime ministers about war crimes rather than stuffing them with duck, salmon and Chateau Lynch Bages?

The Government, for the first time in the history of the State, ordered water cannons to be used against demonstrators. Some said this was an over-reaction. In fact, a calculated decision was made that, at the slightest excuse, the Garda would test the equipment which the Government had supplied. When a few plastic bottles and empty beer cans were thrown by foolhardy individuals, and they should not have been——

And bricks.

May I put the incident in context? Some 23 young people were arrested and all have been charged with extremely minor offences. A constituent of mine was arrested because he got off the bus to make his way home. Far more people were arrested at the rally of the lakes in Killarney during the same weekend and it did not take two thirds of the Garda force and two water cannon to take care of the situation. Most of the people arrested at the demonstration were detained in jail until today. One is charged with the serious offence of being in possession of a Garda cap — receiving stolen property.

How can the Minister justify that? Corrupt colleagues of his who have robbed the State of millions have never darkened the doorway of a courthouse, yet the Government treats young people like that. Did it occur to the Government to send the water cannon into the boardrooms of the major banks to flush out millionaire executives responsible for the real theft of €1 billion of taxpayers' funds?

The Government set out to thwart civil rights this weekend. It did it to frighten people away from their democratic right to protest and to keep numbers down at demonstrations against President Bush. It will not work.

Last week in the House, Deputy Joe Higgins was asked to request people who wished to dissent or protest to do it in a peaceful way but he refused, quite blankly, to do that.

That is wrong.

Deputy Higgins must allow the Minister to reply. He will have an opportunity to reply in due course.

I cannot take up my minute correcting the Minister's representation of the record. I will have other matters to deal with.

The Deputy has made his disclaimer. It is on the record of the House.

The Minister must withdraw that remark. The Official Report shows that I asked that no one should throw a stone or anything else. I ask the Minister to withdraw his remark.

The Minister should withdraw that remark.

I have always respected the law of the country and I ask Deputy Higgins to do the same. As far as last weekend was concerned——

Before the Minister goes any further——

It is not acceptable to allow that allegation to stand on the record of the House.

It is a political charge. The Deputy's disclaimer is on the record. The practice of the House is that a disclaimer is accepted.

The remark is on the record of the House and the Minister cannot employ the tactic of deliberately evading the question.

Political charges have been made since the foundation of the State.

That is unfair and partisan.

I am happy to withdraw the remark. The people to whom I have spoken in the Garda and the security forces, everything I have read and people I have met from many different countries have been complimentary of Ireland and of the way the events of the weekend were managed. It is with some regret that I listen to Deputy Higgins decry people who worked overtime——

They were paid the overtime.

A number of the people involved gave up their weekend holiday.

I remind Deputies that they are not in the school crèche. This is the national Parliament. The Minister is entitled to have his contribution on the record.

Again, I compliment the Garda, the Defence Forces and everyone associated with the handling of a wonderful weekend for this country. No one in this House has the right to decry it or present it in any other way. The problem associated with the dissent of protesters was dealt with in an efficient and speedy manner, with minimal problems for protesters. On behalf of the Government and people, I am proud of the manner in which the security services handled the situation over the weekend.

It is the last good weekend the Government will have for a while.

I notice the Minister withdrew the allegation. I insist that, in fairness, the thousands of members of the security forces on duty over the weekend should be paid their overtime.

For a full month before May Day, there was a deliberate and orchestrated campaign by the Government, members of the security forces and sections of the media to terrify the citizens of Dublin, particularly families, so they would not exercise their right to peaceful protest. This was because the Government was seriously embarrassed on 15 February last year when more than 100,000 people came out in protest against the impending invasion of Iraq. In response to this protest, the Taoiseach tried to convince the Dáil that the 100,000 protesters were virtually card-carrying members of Fianna Fáil who took to the streets to support him. That did not work and will not work on the occasion of the Bush visit when, I have no doubt, massive numbers will want to protest against the outrageous atrocities taking place in Iraq and the disaster which Bush has brought on its people.

The Government campaign is to stop peaceful protest and to do so on the occasion of the Bush visit. This is why the Government brought in water cannon and used them without legitimate excuse, and had a ring of steel around the Phoenix Park. Despite this, I call on the people not to be frightened out of their right to peaceful protest and to come out again in large numbers.

The Deputy's time is concluded.

The Minister said nothing about the fact that 20 young people have been scandalously kept in jail for the most minor of offences. Will he address this?

The Government has no problem whatsoever with peaceful protest.

That is great to hear.

While it will always happen, it should be conducted peacefully.

It should be democratic.

However, it is wrong of the Deputy to present members of the Garda and Defence Forces as having over-reacted in any way over the weekend.

They do what you tell them.

They acted appropriately, speedily and effectively.

The Government abused the gardaí.

I stand over all their actions.

Will the Minister justify keeping young people in jail for three days?

That is for those who break the law.

This country has division of powers. We do not live in a Stalinist regime.