Irish PM LEO VARADKAR: ‘Being Irish means more than saluting the Tricolour, beating your chest and pointing to where you were born’

Our country experienced two terrible attacks on Thursday: the first was an attack on innocent children, the second an attack on our society and the rule of law. Each attack brought shame to our society, disgrace to those involved and incredible pain to everyone involved in the violence.

As Prime Minister, I want to say to a troubled and fearful nation: this is not who we are, this is not who we want to be, and this is not who we will ever be.

Innocent children were attacked outside the Gaelscoil Coláiste Mhuire in Dublin city centre.

These people claim to be defending Irish citizens, yet they endangered the youngest, the most vulnerable and the most innocent of our people

It was a horrific act of violence – and our thoughts are with the injured children, with the heroic healthcare assistant who endangered herself in an attempt to protect them, and with all those who risked their lives to save lives. They are the real Irish heroes, whatever their nationality – Irish, Brazilian, Italian.

Our thoughts are with the doctors and nurses in our city, many of whom come from abroad, who are trying to save the lives of the injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with a nation in shock.

On Thursday evening, some people decided that the best way to respond to this attack was to take to the streets of Dublin and try to frighten, intimidate, loot and destroy. Their first response to the stabbing of a five-year-old child was to set our city on fire, attack its businesses and attack our gardaí.

As a result of their actions, buses and trains were set on fire, innocent passers-by were intimidated and pregnant women at the Rotunda Hospital were made to feel unsafe and in danger.

These people claim to be defending Irish citizens, yet they endangered the newest, most vulnerable, and most innocent of our people.

Those involved brought shame on Dublin, they brought shame on Ireland, and they brought shame on their families and themselves.

These criminals didn’t do this because they love Ireland. They didn’t do that because they wanted to protect the Irish people. They did not do this out of patriotism, however warped.

On Thursday evening, some people decided that the best way to respond to this attack was to take to the streets of Dublin and try to frighten, intimidate, loot and destroy the people.

Their first response to the stabbing of a five-year-old child was to set our city on fire, attack its businesses and attack our gardaí.

They did this because they were filled with hatred, they loved violence, they loved chaos and they loved hurting others. Looting a shop meant more to them than protecting the lives of our children, and they disrupted an ongoing Garda investigation.

The Garda regained control of our streets within a few hours on Thursday night, and I would like to thank them for that, and for the risks they took. I would like to pay tribute to our gardaí, especially those who answered the call from across the country and came to Dublin within a few hours.

As a country we must take Ireland back, we must take it back from the cowards who hide behind masks and try to frighten us with their violence.

We must take Ireland back from the unscrupulous people who feed on the fears of those who are easily led into darkness. We must take Ireland back from the criminals who look for any excuse to unleash horror on our streets.

As Taoiseach, I pledge that we will use the full tools of the law – the full machinery of the state – to punish those involved in Thursday night’s grotesque events, and that we will take action to ensure that any recurrence of the efforts will meet the full requirements of the state. standard of the law.

I spoke to Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris last night, and this morning I met the Commissioner. We have enough gardaí and more are coming.

We have plenty of material and more is coming. We have strict laws and the Garda Commissioner is free to use the Public Order Act over the weekend as required.

We will be passing new laws in the coming weeks to enable gardaí to make better use of the CCTV evidence they collected yesterday, and we will also be modernizing our laws against incitement to hatred and hatred in general – and that is more than ever needed for the case before.

To all those cowardly champions of Ireland who took to the streets of Dublin on Thursday, I would like to say one thing. Ask your sisters, ask your friends, ask everyone you know what they are most afraid of on the street. They’re afraid of you.

They fear your anger and rage. They are afraid of your violence and your hatred, of the way you blame others for your problems.

As a government, we will be relentless in protecting our citizens and defending our people:

• The gardaí will take to the streets and do whatever it takes to push back the waves of ignorance and crime;
• The Minister of Justice will work with the Commissioner to ensure that we never again experience such horrific scenes as on November 23, 2023.

Being Irish means more than saluting the Tricolor, beating your chest and pointing to where you were born.

It means living the ideals represented by our flag, it means being true to our own history, it means acting with compassion for others.

Today I call on all of us to remember who we really are. Because we are better than this. And it’s time for us to come together and remind others who claim to speak for us what our country really stands for.