Letters to the Editor: Rioting in Citywest should give us pause for thought
A Garda van on fire outside Citywest Hotel, Saggart. Picture Colin Keegan
The rioting in Citywest, Dublin, should give us pause for thought at the direction our country is going.
Those involved in this despicable violence were using one incident as an excuse to riot and attack our brave men and women in uniform.
These hooligans gave no consideration for the families who were cowering in asylum accommodation or the local community.
Those elements who were involved in hooliganism and thuggery, as shown on TV and social media, do not represent me or the vast majority of people in this country.
Attacking frontline gardaí, the burning of a Garda vehicle, has, it seems, become all too commonplace amongst a certain cohort of people in this State.
We are all for peaceful protest, but these acts of wanton vandalism and thuggery have to be condemned.
It doesn’t seem so long ago when a violent protest erupted on the streets of Dublin in 2023, after an incident in Parnell Square when young children and a care assistant were attacked.
Once again, a group of thugs used a criminal investigation and disinformation on social media as an excuse to riot.
They offer nothing but division and hate. They should feel the full force of the law and, if convicted, sentencing should reflect our abhorrence to this type of violence.
Four weeks ago, a group calling itself the Irish Network of Legal Observers made up of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights at Galway University wrote a scathing analysis of the garda handling of the Dublin Port protest.
Why am I not surprised. The ICCL is a constant critic of An Garda Síochána. Is this its only focus, I wonder?
I also wonder, given its propensity for analysis, did it write another analysis on the Citywest riots, or were they too violent for its sensitivities, or was it that it would have to actually compliment or write a positive analysis of our frontline gardaí who prevented a serious outrage from occurring, that could have seen those in asylum accommodation come under direct attack.
The upshot of all of this is that gardaí who attended protests will spend weeks and probably months explaining to Fiosrú [the Garda ombudsman], and other oversight agencies within the force, their justification for using batons and pepper spray in order to protect all sections of our community, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, or those seeking asylum.
That they put their bodies on the line to protect us should never be overlooked or subject to biased analysis.
With the dust settling on the presidential election, the autopsy has begun within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on their disastrous nomination processes and their campaigns overall.
For those parties that supported Catherine Connolly in her successful campaign, there is a different but no less important process to undertake following the election.
There will undoubtedly be attempts by the Civil War parties and their fans in some quarters of the media to drive wedges between the left/centre-left alliance.
Perhaps they might try to claim that Catherine Connolly’s success is a victory for some of those parties, but that it was somehow a loss for others that supported her.
Or perhaps they might try stoke fears that Sinn Féin will “eat the lunch” of those in alliance with them.
Either way, one thing is clear: The combined Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael vote is continuing to fall, and they will desperately need another sacrificial lamb to prop them up in government next time.
Hopefully, however, there has been enough evidence of what happens to smaller parties who go into government with one or both of the above parties.
Whether it’s the PDs in 2007, the Greens in 2011 and 2024, or Labour in 2016, they all end up paying the price for propping up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government.
The alliance formed to support Catherine Connolly’s election doesn’t have to be in lockstep on every issue.
However, they have ignored the snide attempts to divide them and avoid being lured back into the clutches of the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael party.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Wild celebrations will continue for some time in Daingean Uí Chúis after its West Kerry club won the county championship at the weekend to lift the Bishop Moynihan Cup for the first time since 1948, with Paul Geaney’s two late goals ending a 77-year drought for Dingle.
Fine Gael must surely now rue not selecting MEP Seán Kelly to contest the presidential election over Heather Humphreys, who clearly was not comfortable in the role.
Mr Kelly, during his time as president of the GAA, amended Rule 42, which opened up Croke Park to the “foreign” games of rugby and soccer while Lansdowne Rd was being developed.
That was 20 years ago, and was also a defining moment for Irish sport.
Tim Lucey’s efforts to reassure the Irish public that all is well on the animal welfare front in the Irish greyhound racing industry ring hollow when one considers the reality. ( Greyhound industry body responds to Fergus Finlay’s column on funding, October 16)
Last year, 202 dogs died as a result of injuries sustained on the track, and 187 more were injured.
To put that in perspective, 5% of all dogs put out to race on racetracks last year were dead before the end of the race or soon thereafter.
A further 11 died at official and unofficial trials, events at which vets do not have to be present.
Track deaths and injuries are only the tip of the iceberg.
Analysis of the data produced from their own traceability system shows that, of the racing greyhounds born in 2021, the first year this system was operational, 5,150 (41%) are already dead or unaccounted for.
The oldest of those dogs would not yet be five! In percentage terms, the number of dead and unaccounted for dogs remains the same as was revealed in the 2019 RTÉ documentary
Mr Lucey’s assertion that the Irish greyhound racing industry is transparent and accountable is similarly threadbare.
When it comes to animal welfare in the greyhound racing industry, Greyhound Racing Ireland is an entirely self-regulatory body.
It is only through the often laborious efforts of groups such as Greyhound Action Ireland and others using the mechanism of parliamentary questions that information such as that outlined above has come to light.
