Irish Examiner view: Weaponising tragedy for malign aims 

The recent incident in Donaghmede may be misrepresented by some in order to suit a malign agenda

A vehicle from the Garda Technical Bureau at the scene of the serious incident in Donaghmede, which cost one young man his life. Picture: Bairbre Holmes/PA

The details of events this week in Donaghmede in Dublin are still emerging, but there is no disputing the central facts.

A 17-year-old male died after an altercation in an apartment complex, Grattan Wood, in this part of north Dublin. The apartment in question serves as an emergency residential home for separated children seeking international protection. Another male teenager and a woman were taken to a Dublin hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The incident sheds light on several different aspects of modern Irish life.

For instance, it occurred the day after Tusla, the child and family agency, told an Oireachtas committee of the extent of the problem of child asylum seekers.

The agency stated that it expects to care for more than 1,200 separated child asylum seekers by the end of the year, which represents a 33% increase on last year. The committee also heard that, on some days, Tusla might have to deal with 15
unaccompanied children arriving into Ireland, putting the agency under huge pressure to house them all appropriately.

It is therefore reasonable to state that the State apparatus in place to deal with this challenge is struggling to function properly.

Complicating the situation even further is the possibility this incident may be weaponised and misrepresented by some in order to suit a malign agenda. Gardaí and the Government are accordingly anxious that such bad-faith actors do not succeed in using the incident to help drive a wider anti-migrant agenda.

Other events this week underline the importance of those efforts. On Monday, a 20-year-old trainee electrician who admitted rioting and setting fire to a Luas carriage in November 2023, during the Dublin riots, was jailed for three years.

Those riots were the direct result of misrepresentation and misinformation, and it is easy to understand the State’s wish to avoid any repeat of such lawlessness.

Decisive leadership will be needed to steer the country through this period, but scepticism about outlandish online claims would also help.

Reversal could hurt businesses

One of the ongoing issues facing town and city councils around the country revolves around access and footfall. Getting people into our urban centres can sometimes be a challenge, with incidents such as the Dublin riots two years ago — as mentioned above — doing little to entice visitors.

Hence the warm welcome for the arrival of innovative parklets in recent years. These little bench areas convert two or three parking spaces into public open space and are well regarded by urbanists all over the world, given the number of benefits they bestow on a neighbourhood. A parcel is seen as a cost-effective way to create more vibrant streets, to support local business, and to provide an inviting green space for residents and passers-by to sit, relax, and interact.

Both Limerick and Cork have unveiled such parklets in recent years, which makes the news from Limerick so disappointing this week. As reported here by Manon Gilbart, Limerick Council has commenced a removal programme for all parklets across the city.

That move has caused concern among several business owners in the city, who claimed there was no formal engagement with the council and that they were left blindsided.

The situation is no better in Cork, where local councillor Peter Horgan stated this week that a parklet in the suburb of Douglas was to be removed and replaced with a parking space.

This is a retrograde step by the local authorities involved. Dereliction and urban decay plague all our cities, with antisocial behaviour a serious disincentive to visit our urban areas. Installing parklets was a vote of confidence in those urban areas and encouraged people to interact with each other in a public space.

They have also boosted trade for businesses near them, but the flip side of that increase in custom is a new vulnerability if the parklet is removed. Business owners in Limerick have been critical of the removals, with at least one fearing for the viability of his operation without the custom generated by a nearby parklet.

These decisions should certainly be revisited.

Dursey dive

Alternative modes of transport were the order of the day in West Cork earlier this week, when Colombian high diver Orlando Duque became the first person in the world to dive off the Dursey Island cable car into the Atlantic.

A veteran of Red Bull’s competitive cliff-diving circuit, Mr Duque said the 24m dive from the cable car was unlike anything he had ever faced before.

Many readers will be familiar with the cable car, the only one in Europe which crosses open sea water. First opened in 1969, the cable car once also carried livestock to and from the island.

Mr Duque’s past success as a competitive diver does not underplay his achievement here in any way. He articulated the difficulties he faced well: “I’ve jumped off a lot of things during my career, but a cable car is definitely a first for me.

“It is such a beautiful area, but with the wind here, the currents, the changing tide — there were so many challenges.”

Readers may nod in appreciation of Mr Duque’s achievement and, depending on their age and general health, muse on whether they might be able to copy him. Most of us will be hoping the operators do not make diving from the cable car mandatory, however.

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