Independent Cork TD Michael Collins has hit out at politicians who he claims seized on the death of Ashling Murphy to advance “sad points of view.”
Following the killing of Murphy, a 23-year-old Offaly native, People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith took to the Dáil to lay culpability at the feet of Catholic schools for the killing.
“The shock waves throughout this country in the aftermath of yet another violent killing of a woman have already been mentioned,” said Smith.
“…I think all of us females in this country, if we are honest, have at some stage our lives experienced a mix of harassment, abuse, sexual threats, aggression and misogyny…It is a universal experience. We need now to own up to the universality of the oppression of women…Some 92% of our schools are run by the Catholic Church and that church, we believe, is incapable of delivering the non-ethos-based sex education that is required.”
Notably, while Murphy’s killer has not yet been identified with certainty, the man charged by police is a 31-year-old Slovakian national, not of Irish extraction, who required a Slovakian interpreter in court according to the Sunday World. This indicates that the suspect had relatively recently arrived in Ireland and has not gone through the Irish school system, Catholic or otherwise.
Earlier this week, Michael Collins TD responded to such claims.
“Much has been said in the past week of the manner of the death of Ashling Murphy, a lovely young woman whose life was cut cruelly short in a gruesome manner,” he said.
“This death has shocked the country and rightly so. Her family, or any family, should never have to go through this horrendous pain. I heard many strong words from outside this House and within, much of which I fully support as they were meaningful and needed to be said.”
However, he continued: “Sadly, some of the commentary in this House last week was distasteful, to say the least, pointing at churches and church-run schools, which we now know had absolutely nothing to do with this shocking happening.
“Their statements show that they will use any mechanism possible in the House to get their sad points of view out there and, by God, some of their points of view are beyond sad. I suppose an apology from these Deputies is beyond them.”
As an alternative solution to the problem of crime, Collins called for “improvements in sentencing.”
“Yesterday, we learned of the sentencing of a man with 4,000 child images on his computer,” the TD said.
“He received a suspended sentence. When so many people who hurt women or families in such a terrible way get small sentences, it does not show a deterrent to those monsters out there who need to be shown up for what they do.
“Another area where parents and schools have to take better control is the mobile phone. Tablets, laptops and computers in the hands of children are like a loaded gun that the child cannot handle and lead our younger people to building up some terrible thoughts.
“If we cannot start with how we work with our great young people, how do we expect them to grow up and respect women and each other?
“The events of the past week will never leave the minds of so many. Words are one thing, but action is needed.”
In addition, Collins called for more widespread of use of CCTV in high risk areas as a deterrent.