Gary Gannon
Dublin Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“I will talk about that in a couple of minutes but before I do I want to come back to some of the things the Minister of State said in his opening speech, particularly the last paragraph.”
“It will create a scenario where vulnerable people will simply not be able to get up their street for potentially three days because there will be a multitude of different providers steaming up these streets, which were never created for such large vehicles.”
“Those things should not be in competition with each other. The remunicipalisation of waste is going to cost money. That is a simple fact, but public services often should operate at a loss.”
“He engaged with the evidence and with stakeholders and came to the same determination, namely, that what we have at present for waste management services, not only in Dublin but nationally, is no longer tolerable. It has led to a system that is clearly not efficient or not suitable for the purpose intended.”
“Does the Tánaiste recognise the scale of the chaos in our criminal justice system at the moment? Thousands of cases have been adjourned. Victims will await justice. Backlogs are building. We now have habeas corpus cases taking place in the High Court. The Minister referenced my flowery language.”
“I want to acknowledge Deputy Sherlock for her work in bringing forward this Bill. We in the Social Democrats will be supporting it. It is a shame that the Minister of State is not willing to engage further than to simply vote it down on the promise that a review will be released in an unspecified time.”
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“The size of the bins that will be provided by the private operators involved means that take up half the footpath. If the Minister of State imagines streets like in Stoneybatter, there are rows upon rows of small terraced houses that either do not have back gardens or have gardens that are too small to house the wheelie bins on days when they are not being collected. That creates its own issues. On days when collections are taking place there will be wheelie bins taking up more than half the width of footpaths in communities where there are people with mobility issues. Wheelchair access is going to be prevented and anybody with a pram will simply have to move out onto the road.”
“I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. Dublin City Council's phase 3 bag-free streets programme will end plastic bag collection in Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Broadstone, and other parts of the north-west inner city. It might feel like a good thing that we are removing plastic bags from rubbish collection. There have been incidents of seagulls opening bags which inevitably leads to rubbish being scattered and various related issues. There is going to be a significant problem in that specific part of Dublin, however, on foot of this development because what is being proposed as an alternative involves a number of issues. The first of this is that there are going to be wheelie bins on streets that are in no way suitable for wheelie bins.”
“One of the more frustrating aspects of my time here is that good intention falls down when there is actually no follow-through, with nobody to take charge and be in control of these things. The city is the lesser for it because Dublin and, I am sure, all the other cities in Ireland have enormous potential, but when there are so many different agencies, so many people saying it is not their job and so many people saying that it is the responsibility of X, all of these things start to look shabby and lacking imagination. We will support this extension today as we did six months ago and six months before that. What I would like to support in the future is not just a genuine vision for Dublin but the capacity to deliver upon it.”
“That is all fine but where we fall down is in imagination, leadership and a genuine passion for Dublin. We can talk about outdoor dining and over-the-shop living but that cannot be separated from simple things like waste collection. In my area of Stoneybatter, outdoor dining took hold from places like Ray’s and Slice, with people sitting out there enjoying the community. In the last couple of weeks, I have got notifications that the waste management service is to be changed and bins are to be placed along every single house on the road. That speaks of an absence of joined-up thinking and an absence of a genuine vision not only for city centres but for the communities that inhabit them. The Dublin task force actually had some good recommendations.”
“Dublin in particular, although I am sure the same can be said of everywhere else around the country, cannot afford more indecision. It cannot afford more Ministers going to the GPO announcing task forces whose reports just sit on shelves. We need ambition and that ambition can and should extend beyond simple outdoor dining. That ambition should extend to over-the-shop living, for example. How can we get people living more in the city centre above the shops on Henry Street, Grafton Street and O'Connell Street? These suggestions have been made for 20 years in various different reports and every time the suggestion is made, somebody says it seems like a good idea, but all the factors needed to implement that good idea just get left on the shelf because there may be some legislative difficulties or some resourcing required.”
“They are about civic life, about allowing people to enjoy cities rather than merely moving through them, about creating places that feel welcoming and about recognising that a successful city is not measured only by commercial activity but by what people want to spend their time doing there. That is the bigger opportunity here. We will support the extension today but I genuinely hope it is the last time we have to discuss another six-month continuation of something everyone already accepts should be permanent. In November, we were told it would be the last time. Eventually, repeating temporary measures stops looking like being cautious and just starts looking like indecision. Even more, it looks like nobody is in charge.”
“Government chooses whether reports like the report of the Dublin city task force just gather dust or whether recommendations become reality. The frustrating thing about all this is that Dublin is already showing what works. Capel Street has shown what works, parts of Drury Street have shown it works and the people themselves have shown what works. Young people especially have shown something important. Every summer we hear concerns that there are not enough places to gather, not enough affordable ways to simply exist socially in the city. When people find those spaces organically, the State seems surprised about it. Outdoor dining and seating were never only about hospitality.”
“What always strikes me when I walk down Henry Street is that everybody is moving; there is no place to simply sit. That is an anomaly on a main street in a capital city. People should be able to just sit and relax. I am not saying the same thing again today because they are just as relevant, not because it is difficult, not because it is impossible, but because nothing meaningful has actually happened. After enough years pass, some things stop looking like failures and just start looking like choices. A city centre does not become vibrant by accident. Streets do not redesign themselves. Public spaces do not improve through aspiration alone. Government chooses where urgency goes. Government chooses where funding goes.”
“If we believe outdoor social spaces are part of a modern capital city, policy needs to reflect that belief consistently. Joined-up thinking matters. We cannot on one hand praise vibrancy, the night-time economy, footfall and city centre renewal, and then on the other hand leave the framework around all of that feeling temporary and feeling fragile. This goes well beyond one pub or one street. The first time I spoke on these extensions, I mentioned Talbot Street, Henry Street and other areas north of the river that deserve exactly the same imagination and confidence that is shown elsewhere. I asked people then to imagine Talbot Street on a warm evening with outdoor seating, better public realm, colour, activity and life spilling onto the street, and to imagine Henry Street as somewhere people stayed rather than simply passed through.”
“I am not speaking to the merits of that individual decision because there may be valid concerns around access, pedestrianised flow or public space management potentially. Of course, those concerns matter, but what struck me was something bigger. One week a popular outdoor space that contributed to the atmosphere of the area was removed, then two weeks later after public pressure, it was put back in. What does that say to businesses? What does that say to the people trying to invest in our streets? What does that say to anyone trying to imagine a longer term future for Dublin city centre? It just speaks of uncertainty and that nobody is really in charge. It says we have still not decided whether we actually believe in this model or whether we are merely just tolerating it.”
“I acknowledge that legislation is progressing to put these arrangements on a permanent footing. That is welcome but it is long overdue. In the meantime, uncertainty remains. Businesses remain unsure and temporary arrangements keep temporary thinking in place. In my previous speeches on this matter, I have spoken about Drury Street. I mentioned walking through it on summer evenings and seeing something Dublin 2 rarely gives itself, that being, permission to relax, to be social, to be alive in our own city - not people rushing through a city but people actually just sitting there inhabiting it. In recent weeks, Ciss Maddens had its outdoor seating licence revoked and then within in a matter of weeks the outdoor area was back again after the licence was renewed.”
“Of course, we will support this motion as we supported the extension the numerous times it was brought to us before. I again say what many Members, including Deputy Smith, just said, namely, that we cannot keep coming here repeatedly as we have done over the last number years, doing the same thing and being told this will be the last time. Everybody agrees this should be permanent. Why are we still extending it every six months? We all agree that outdoor dining works. Those in opposition, in government, councillors in our local authorities, the businesses and the people of Dublin agree that it works. We should not have to come back here again in six months’ time. Outdoor dining and outdoor social spaces are no longer a Covid-era response. They have become part of how people experience Dublin and cities across Ireland.”
“It is absolutely not shallow rhetoric or sloganeering to say the Irish State should adhere to our obligations under the prevention of genocide Act, which we signed willingly. If you recognise a genocide is happening to the people of Gaza inflicted by the State of Israel, why are we still debating whether it is just services or goods? It should be everything in our power to prevent that but if this is what we have in our possession, let us do it to the maximum. We need a debate on that in this House this week.”
“The community of the inner city are telling us they are not being policed to the same levels you will see in the commercial city centre where you will see a visible policing presence. What occurred over the weekend with another loss of an amenity is not acceptable.”
“I would not expect the Taoiseach to be aware of every incident of vandalism that takes place in a particular playground or play facility across the country but the north inner city task force is run by his Department. Diamond Park is a playground right in the heart of the community and it is well used. If you go into it, most days you will see what happens in any other playground - families sitting together and children playing. That playground was burned over the weekend. It was torched and set alight. It is not the first act of vandalism that has happened there. It has happened in the dark of the night on many occasions. This is all while the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, tells us there is high visibility policing happening around the city centre. Those two things do not meet.”
“The issue in Cabra is that people are being directed to call 999 - I have issues with that - but they still want to have a sense that they can call their local Garda station if something is happening in the immediate vicinity. The problem is that because of the level of high-visibility policing in the commercial city centre, the residential communities surrounding it feel they are being left behind. This is a matter I would like the Minister to address, perhaps through the structures of community safety partnerships. Maybe he will make a comment on it.”
“No more than the Minister, I cannot speak for a member of a party that is not my own. I do not doubt for a second that when I walk outside Leinster House, I will see a number of gardaí. When I leave RTÉ if I am doing an interview in the morning, I see a lot of gardaí in the Donnybrook area. I cannot escape the fact that when I am walking around my constituency, certainly the parts of it outside the O'Connell Street area, it is very difficult to find gardaí. This comes up constantly. I attended a residents' association meeting in Drumcondra recently at which there was a discussion on the increasing number of burglaries and the fact that gardaí are not arriving until two or three days later to investigate.”
“The call was answered but, obviously, the gardaí there could not process the complaint. The man's action was born of frustration. We are not getting gardaí in Cabra. We are not getting gardaí to respond to burglaries in Drumcondra. I am sure the Minister is hearing this on the same doors in the same way I am. They do not have representation on the community forum structures set up to address these issues. We are in a bit of a quagmire here in the sense that Garda numbers are not reflective of what we are being told in the communities outside the commercial city centre. The prospect for representation on the structures does not exist because the superintendents are not there.”
“It was not just councillors; TDs were also eligible to go to the joint policing committee structure. I was a regular attender at meetings of my local joint policing committee. Here is my issue. We constantly hear about a large Garda presence in the city centre. This is something the Minister has championed. I will possibly discuss that again later. However, I will give the example of communities like Cabra or even Drumcondra, which is actually covered by Ballymun Garda station. In Cabra last week, a constituent of mine was going around the Bogies roundabout. A load of lads wearing balaclavas came past on scooters. The man in question tried to ring the local Garda station in Cabra but he got no answer, so he had this innovative solution. He rang the Garda station in Rathmines.”
“The number one issue that comes across for me in my constituency of Dublin Central is community safety. Large portions of the constituency are not represented on the community safety partnership. Cabra, Drumcondra and Glasnevin do not have a Garda superintendent. The purpose of my question is to ask the Minister about the structure of the community safety partnerships.”
“That is the vulnerability I am highlighting. I am not sure from the Minister's answer if that will be addressed in the legislation that actually gives confidence to what we are doing here today.”
“I should say that we are not raising these issues to obstruct. We are raising the issues because there is the potential for quite clear legal vulnerabilities here. The Bill, as it is presented to us and as we can see before us, has brought suggestions from some organisations that there are some violations of the AI Act and EU regulations. We can only scrutinise what is in front of us as it is presented to us. With regard to the use of this technology, particularly in some of the cases the Minister outlined of the most serious nature where we want prosecution if a person is found to be guilty, we do not want to leave legal loopholes that people can use to remove themselves from prosecution because the tools that have been used by the State to establish guilt are being seen as a breach of an EU law.”
“Those obligations include: ensuring human oversight by personnel with the necessary skills, training and authority; monitoring the system for risks to fundamental rights; suspending use of the system if such a risk arises; maintaining logs for a minimum of six months and carrying out a data protection impact assessment and, under Article 27, conducting a detailed fundamental rights impact assessment before deploying the system and sharing results with the market surveillance authority. I did raise this on Committee Stage and I was told that the code of practice would deal with it. I want to gently but firmly push back on that. A code of practice prepared by the Garda Commissioner and reviewed every five years is not an adequate substitute for statutory obligations enshrined in primary legislation.”
“The Bill carefully avoids using the language of the EU AI Act, but the EU AI Act does not care what we call things; it cares what we do. What these powers do - in particular the first limb - is categorise people on the basis of their biometric data, namely, skin colour, hair colour, eye colour and body shape. By any plain reading, that is a biometric categorisation within the meaning of the AI Act. The AI Act is not aspirational. Rather, it is binding and it is explicit that biometric categorisation systems used by law enforcement are classified as high-risk AI systems. This classification carries with it a suite of mandatory obligations under Articles 26 and 27. These are obligations on the deployer, which in this case is An Garda Síochána.”
“I will be supporting this amendment and a similar one tabled by Deputy Kelly. We all appreciate that An Garda needs tools to investigate serious crime, find missing people of people and protect the public. Nobody on this side of the House will ever dispute that. However, our job is to make sure that when we hand these tools over we do so in a way that is legally sound. The Bill introduces a new concept of biometric analysis which is defined across three limbs in section 43A. The first allows gardaí to automatically recognise and categorise physical features of individuals generally from footage gathered in an investigation. The second allows them to track particular unidentified persons across that footage. The third allows them to locate particular identified persons using the same process.”
“That is a choice to leave things as they are. Leaving things as they are means more women travelling, and we were elected to do better than that.”
“They are forced to travel. They go through one of the most devastating experiences of their lives alone abroad and that cannot continue. Ireland has a 14-year criminal sanction on medical practitioners. It is one of only three countries in Europe at that level. The WHO recommends full decriminalisation. That sanction creates fear in our hospitals. It drives conservative decision-making in grey areas and causes harm. I will be clear about what we are asking for today. We are not asking for everybody to support every line of the Bill in its final form. We are asking for it to go to Committee Stage in order to scrutinise it, test it and amend it where needed. Where a Government-commissioned review has already found systematic failures in primary legislation, refusing further scrutiny is not a neutral act.”
“The Bill before the House is designed to fix three of those problems, the first being that the mandatory three-day waiting period has no basis in medical evidence. The WHO is unambiguous on this. It recommends against mandatory waiting periods, finding no evidence of benefit and clear evidence of harm. Some 98% of women who attend services proceed after the wait. It does not change minds, it just delays care. It disproportionately punishes women who are already vulnerable, women in rural Ireland, women in abusive relationships, women who can least afford another trip, another day off work, another arrangement. The 28-day rule forces clinicians to predict with certainty how long a baby will survive after birth. That is not something medicine can reliably do and because clinicians cannot certify, some women are then turned away.”
“I will start with a simple premise which I imagine will be repeated by other speakers today - eight years ago, Irish people voted overwhelmingly to repeal the eighth amendment. One of the central promises of that campaign, a promise that moved many people, was that women would no longer have to travel abroad when they received a devastating diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality. Today, eight years later, many women still have to make that traumatic journey. That is a starting point for this debate; it is not about ideology or politics. The 2018 Act contained a provision for a review to take place after three years. That review happened. Marie O'Shea conducted it. She found serious systemic problems. That was three years ago. The Oireachtas has not acted since.”
“-----listened to me about the cry I am getting from flat complexes the length and breadth of this city, which is that the State should just do its job. With Dublin City Council or any other local authority, it is the State that is the overarching landlord of conditions that were found by European courts to be inhumane. The Minister of State cannot tell me we are a rich country when we are a slum landlord. The calls in this motion are minuscule but the demand from the people living in these flat complexes the length and breadth of the city, who we meet every single day, who are hurting and who have that hurt compounded by increased rents, is simply for the State to do its job, live up to its commitment and stop asking people to live in conditions none of us in this Chamber would live in.”
“A sense of solidarity, commitment and community exists there, but it exists in the absence of State intervention and of a State willing to say that, as these people's landlord - the overarching truth is that this State is quite literally the landlord - it is going to allow people to live in conditions that are nothing short of the tenement conditions of old. Within these complexes you will find people who keep their flats immaculately. They clean their flats every single day. I am sorry to the Minister of State, but I am talking to him. I am talking to him through the Chair, admittedly, but I would appreciate it if he-----”
“I cannot imagine anything more cruel than a report commissioned by the State that commits to addressing the absence of any sort of humane conditions in flat complexes and rather than the State doing the job it committed to do, which was to allocate the funding promised, it turned around and raised the rents of people living in conditions not one of us in this Chamber would live in now. I grew up in Mountain View Court. I spent the first seven years of my life there. I will not romanticise it as there absolutely were issues, but I still see people on the street who say they remember me from the flats.”
“The Government is going against its own commitments made in the GPO under the heading "Ten Big Moves". I can imagine a person in one of the flat complexes locally, like Greek Street, Henrietta Street, Ballybough House or Dunne Street would have looked at that and said it was great and that maybe within in three to five years they would have habitable conditions in which they could raise their children. What did they get within 12 months of the Government's Big Move? They got rent increases.”
“Only 17% of flat complexes in this city have experienced any form of upgrade. The people living in them have been given a double insult. I will get to the insult in a second, but in addition to what this motion is asking for, all anybody in the flat complexes or those who have the pleasure of representing them are asking for is that this Government lives up to its own commitments. In October 2024, to great fanfare, Simon Harris and lots of other Ministers stood in the GPO and announced a capital-only plan called the Big Move 2. It committed to a "total regeneration of all existing social housing in the city centre [and this is the real kicker] within three to five years". I do not believe a single flat complex has been renovated in that time, but the Minister of State's speech tells us the State will get to it in due course.”
“I listened to the Minister of State's contribution earlier. My only hope is that he did not write it himself because I cannot describe it as anything other than obnoxious. It was a gaslighting of communities, some of which I am sure are in the Gallery this evening and are living in conditions nothing short of inhumane. The response from Government was "carry on" because things are good and it will get there in due course. However, due course has health implications for the people living in those flat complexes. There are respiratory issues and mould on the walls. When I canvas any of the inner-city flat complexes I will inevitably be brought in by a person to see the mould on the walls, to see hinges on doors that do not actually close, and to see windows only barely contained within the structure.”
“It is crucial that any ultimate statutory inquiry is victim-centred and adheres to their experiences and needs. Victims' stories must be listened to and their questions must be answered. Above all, we must ensure nothing like this can ever happen again. We in the Social Democrats will work with the Government in whatever way we can to advance this important work and obtain justice for the victims once and for all.”
“They should not have had to tell their stories again and again to finally secure this scoping exercise. Their tireless fight in the pursuit of truth must now be honoured with a full statutory inquiry. Nothing less will suffice. The system failed them. Now it must support them in the pursuit of truth. A statutory public inquiry is the only way to properly investigate not only the actions of Michael Shine but also the failings of several public bodies and how this was allowed to continue for so long. The matter has never been properly dealt with. It is time for the State to rectify that and ensure that this is never allowed to happen again. After decades of fighting for justice and truth, the scoping exercise's 16-week timeframe must be adhered to. This process must finally deliver for the survivors.”
“It took until 2019 for him to face any jail time, albeit far too short a sentence. That was following years of him fighting every step of the way, even seeking damages from the State. His recent prosecution barely scratched the surface of the crimes he committed. Notwithstanding the unjustifiable delays in getting to this point, it is a positive development that this scoping exercise is finally under way. The appointment of Lorcan Staines SC in March was a welcome step. It is essential that this scoping exercise is now followed by a full statutory inquiry in which victims, who have waited long enough, should have their voices heard. On behalf of the Social Democrats I pay tribute to the courage and resilience of the survivors and their representative group, Dignity4Patients.”
“The fact of the matter is that Michael Shine has only served three years in jail for these horrific crimes. Survivors have rightly argued that this is not justice served given he has only been convicted for crimes against nine boys when we know there were so many more victims of his crimes. The Court of Appeal said he preyed on these young boys whom he was entrusted to medically examine. To date, more than 400 men have come forward. However, new cases continue to emerge and victims believe that a more accurate figure could be in excess of 1,000. Even as recently as last year Shine still showed no remorse, nor would he take any responsibility for his depraved crimes. This is a man who got to retire more than 30 years ago on a full pension, having spent decades abusing boys and young men.”
“We need to know who knew what, who facilitated it, and who allowed it to continue and to cover it up. Why was this man aided and abetted for so long? While it is welcome that a scoping exercise is finally under way, why has it taken decades to get to this point? In a country with such a long and dark history of abuse, we should know better. More decisive action should have been taken years ago. There have been too many cases of abuse in which the State has dragged its heels, in particular when it comes to establishing inquiries, ensuring transparency and delivering accountability. For years, survivors have sought an inquiry to examine how Shine's abuses were allowed to go unfettered for so long and why it took decades to secure a conviction.”
“Public bodies turned a blind eye to the abuse of children and young people, allowing him to continue his crimes for decades. Even as recently as the early 2000s, when a victim took the brave step of making a formal complaint to the Garda, he was told that there was not sufficient evidence and that he should write a letter of apology to Michael Shine for bringing the allegation. That is an outrageous situation. It is more evidence of a system that has systematically failed victims over and over again, retraumatising them rather than supporting them. It is not as if Shine's abuses were not known. It has been described as an open secret locally, yet his crimes went unchecked by the State for decades. As has been the case again and again, the systems that should protect and support victims closed ranks. There must be accountability for this.”
“We in the Social Democrats welcome today's statement and the scoping exercise into Michael Shine's abuse. I thank the Minister for Health for providing time for this dedicated debate. Michael Shine is one of the most notorious and prolific paedophiles in Irish history and a full public inquiry into his abuse is long overdue and must finally be delivered. His abuse was carried out on an industrial scale and went unchecked for far too long – dating as far back as the 1960s and continuing throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Reports of his abuse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda began in 1964, but no action was taken by the hospital and the beginning of the despicable pattern in our State institutions continued.”
“We do not have enough gardaí in this State to police the level of crime and criminality that is happening, and we certainly do not have the understanding to appreciate what causes that crime.”
“-----but in March, for example, farmers were forced to sell cattle to pay drug debts amid rising rural crime. What is happening in this State with drugs, drug-related intimidation and the exploitation and coercion of children into that crime is an absolute failure of this Republic. It will not simply be addressed by Fine Gael stating it is a party of law and order on its website. It must look into the underlying causes of the crime, the cycle that brings children into criminality and into the prison systems and to have that repeated ad nauseam . Also, why is this happening in communities that never felt it? There is something deeper happening and I do not believe for a second that the Tánaiste's Government is aware of it or has the means by which we can actually police it.”
“What happened in Ballymun on Tuesday was absolutely shocking but I chose in my opening remarks to widen it beyond simply Ballymun because I recognise the pattern. There will be an incident that captures public attention in a particular area, and then we will talk solely about that one community as if this is happening in isolation. I am not sure if anyone in Fine Gael reads the Irish Farmers' Journal anymore-----”
“She said that, above all else, poverty was the one consistent factor in the grooming of children into crime. Poverty creates conditions, deprivation removes the options and the sole focus on criminalisation compounds the cycle. The Tánaiste cannot continue to claim that his party is one of law and order and avert his gaze from the factors that have led to children in this State being exploited and groomed into the most exploitative forms of criminality. Given what we have heard about the level of child criminalisation and exploitation and the level of crime in rural Ireland, can the Tánaiste still tell us that Fine Gael is a party of law and order? What is the actual plan to break the cycle of crime and deprivation, not only in marginalised communities, but across Ireland?”
“The Montague report on Ballymun and the Connolly report on Dublin South-Central found that criminal networks in Ireland deliberately and systematically recruited children below the age of criminal responsibility not just because they could not be prosecuted, but because the conditions of their birth made them vulnerable to exploitation; that once the child complies even once, the obligations deepen and a refusal is met with violence and intimidation; and that children embedded in these networks are from the most deprived communities in the country. Up to 1,000 children at any given time across the State are under the coercive control of criminal adults. Clare O'Connor, one of the researchers behind the most recent Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, report, put it to me simply.”
“A Garda sergeant and a crime prevention officer in Galway told a community meeting that decent hard-working families across rural Ireland were being targeted to pay off the drug debts of their children and that drug intimidation had become more lucrative for dealers than selling the drugs themselves. Teenagers are being used to distribute drugs the length and breadth of this country. The four national Greentown reports since 2015 captured this.”
“That is a truly terrifying incident and should be a watershed moment because this problem is much deeper than what happened in Ballymun and has been shaped by long-term policy choices on housing, public services and community investment. Since 2021, there have been over 2,500 recorded incidents of drug-related intimidation across this State. Arson attacks linked to drug debt have quadrupled in four years. Debts are sold between gangs so that families who pay once are forced to pay again. Of those 2,500 incidents, just 4% have resulted in prosecution. This is not law and order, but the absence of it. This is no longer just an urban problem.”
“The Tánaiste leads a party that identifies itself as the party of law and order. Fine Gael's website says, "Fine Gael is the party of law and order" and "We are the party that will ensure your family, your community, and our country is secure from crime". After 15 years of Fine Gael in government, for 14 of which his party held the justice portfolio, could he stand in Ballymun today and tell those he meets there that his party has ensured that their community and the families who live there are secure from crime? At 3 p.m. on Tuesday, a child of 11 picked up a loaded gun that had been discarded during a Garda pursuit and fired a shot into the air. It is by the grace of God that this child or another child in the vicinity was not killed.”