I wish to pass on my sincere condolences to the family of Brian Crowley.

Last Friday night, I was at sitting at home. I opened Instagram and saw a fellow politician online shaking and in tears. This person is a county councillor elected democratically by the people of the town of Navan, not once but twice. On Friday evening, on her way back to her car, this councillor by approached by someone asking her to confirm that she was a county councillor. Upon replying, a tirade of abuse began: "You are not welcome; go back to where you came from; you are not Irish". These are all very hurtful comments. To finish this off, this man drew his breath, drew saliva and spat at her. Councillor Yemi Adenuga is over 25 years in Ireland. Her children were born here. She works here yet was horrendously racially assaulted on the streets of her hometown and my hometown, Navan. Where in society is this behaviour ever acceptable? Are we back to when posters and windows read, "No blacks; no Irish; no dogs"? Are some people really that discriminatory? Sadly, the answer is "Yes". This is not about what one feels about people coming in or out of our country or our migration policies. This is about the common decency we need to show everyone we meet, no matter what their skin colour is or where they are from. People are genuinely afraid, both native Irish and migrants. People fear what they do not know and are wary of. We need strong political will to determine sustainable solutions to dealing with these rising incidents across every county in Ireland.

What happened to this councillor is no more than hateful bile. It is up to the Ministers for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and Education and Youth and all of us to find realistic and practical ways to deal with these issues. Do we in society continue to blame newcomers for all the problems? Do we attack them, call them names and spit in their faces? I definitely cannot get this out of my head. I cannot imagine someone spitting in my face. I cannot imagine someone spitting in any woman's face or man's face. It is seriously the lowest of the low. I ask the Chair to ask the Ministers I have mentioned to debate how we prevent this from happening again and what the consequences are to the person who did this to Councillor Yemi Adenuga.