Parnell Square attack and racism
The Chair welcomed Senator Boylan, who challenged remarks about race and said the Parnell Square attack must be the focus, with solidarity for the injured child, carer and rescuers. Senator Dooley briefly clarified he had meant the public airwaves, and Boylan continued on the need for leadership against racism.
Go raibh maith agat. This is the first chance I have had to raise the horrific attack that happened on Parnell Square last Thursday, but I want first to take up Senator Dooley's comments about the unwritten rule in respect of addressing race. I do not know what unwritten rule he is talking about. From my perspective as an elected representative and that of our party, we have been engaging on the issue of racism for years, listening to communities and engaging with them on concerns they might have, and fighting back if people are racist, whether online or in our communities. There is no unwritten rule. We all have a job of leadership to talk to our communities and stamp out any form of racism-----
Comment on this
The Senator may have misunderstood. I was talking about the public airways.
Comment on this
There is no unwritten rule. It is everybody's obligation to show leadership on the issue of racism.
As I said, I want to focus on what happened on Thursday, and my thoughts go out to those children who were seriously injured and to the carer in that horrific attack, as well as to those who intervened and put their lives on the line to put children in safety and protect the person who had been carrying out the attack from further attacks. It showed that when people are at risk and scenarios such as this happen, people's instincts are inherently about the greater good and about intervening to protect others. Everybody who played a role on Thursday in that regard needs to be commended on and thanked for their actions.
We heard last night on "Prime Time" from Niall Hodgins of the Garda Representative Association, GRA. I will quote him directly because what he said was astounding. He stated:
There was no plan ... Members turned up simply because of WhatsApp messages being passed around from garda to garda ... no instruction came down to the members. I could give ... a myriad of examples ... about a number of text messages that were circulated but it was from garda to garda about witnessing what was happening to their colleagues. They decided upon themselves to get into a car and drive to the [assistance of their work colleagues] ... It was absolutely chaotic.
Any of us who watched the events unfold last week will know the gardaí were left high and dry on Thursday. There was no leadership from the top down. In light of all the accounts from Garda representatives, it is astounding the Minister and the Garda Commissioner will still not accept that they lost control of our capital city on Thursday night. It is also an insult to the intelligence of the entire population to say it could not have been anticipated. I could show the House text messages I was sending and phone calls I was making at 3.30 p.m. on Thursday telling friends and family members to get out of town and get home in whatever way they could because it was going to turn very nasty. It beggars belief, therefore, that the Minister and the Garda Commissioner are still saying that could not have been anticipated.