Last night’s meeting of Dublin City Council saw two independent Councillors, Malachy Steenson and Gavin Pepper leave the chamber in protest after the Mayor, Fine Gael Councillor Emma Blain, ruled that their proposal to debate the “crime crisis” in the city as a topical issue would not be taken.
After the proposal was voted down, Steenson interrupted proceedings to describe the actions of his fellow councillors as a “disgrace” and the councillors meeting as a “farce”.
His fellow councillor Gavin Pepper stood up with Steenson, saying the vote against the motion was a “joke” and both Independents left the Dublin City Council chamber.
Councillors Steenson and Pepper had tabled the motion last night following the stabbings carried out in the Stoneybatter/Aughrim Street area of the north city on Sunday afternoon. The culprit who was arrested appears to be a Brazilian national who had come to the attention of the Gardaí previously.
Bizarrely, The Journal felt impelled to do a “fact check” yesterday because “racist social media users and fake news outlets” had pounced on the reports “to spread unfounded claims before the full details have emerged.”
The majority of Dublin City Councillors appear to have opposed the proposal from Steenson and Pepper, and were clearly not only supportive of the Mayor but downright happy to show that support. A strange reason for mirth perhaps, but there you go.
Mayor Blain told Councillors Steenson and Pepper in her best Pembroke tones to “close the dure behind you” to spontaneous applause and guffawing from many of those, particularly among the far-left and Sinn Féin members, who remained.
Monthly Council Meeting – Monday 10 February 2025, 6:15pm – Dublin City Council Webcasting (public-i.tv) (20:00 to 22:00)
The two Councillors spoke to camera following their departure and outlined their reasons for making the proposal, and leaving the chamber. Councillor Steenson spoke scathingly of the 46 Councillors (of 58 who cast a vote) who denied their motion. He claimed that it was because they were terrified of the “truth getting out” and were determined to hide the links between migration and serious crime.
Steenson said that the message sent by the majority of the Council was that “We don’t care about the victims of crime in this country.” Councillor Pepper said that the behaviour of the Sinn Féin and People Before Profit Councillors amounted to them “practically celebrating the fact that they didn’t have to talk about the incidents that had happened.”
Happy in the knowledge that the Council proceedings would not have its buzz wrecked by the intrusion of such matters into the Chamber, Mayor Blain received particular commendation from a beaming Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan who assured her that she had “done a good job already.”
Good to see that this stout fellow has picked himself up after his humiliating failure to be elected to the Seanad last week. Humiliating not for the reason that he lost – an occupational hazard for all who have the courage to present themselves for election – but for the reason that his own party ignored the fact that Doolan had been nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and decided to back another Party nominee instead.
As with so many other issues touching on the impact of mass immigration on the country, there is virtual unanimity across all of the Establishment parties – and that includes Sinn Féin and the communists – on this. They are happy, as last night once again proved, to back the suppression of the facts on crime, just as they are the facts about the gigantic racket that surrounds the asylum accommodation sector.
There were further developments this morning when Councillor Steenson left a north inner city area committee meeting at the Council. The majority of the Councillors for the two wards had proposed a motion issuing sympathies to the victims of the stabbings, but also commending Garda Chief Superintendent Patrick McMenamin for the police reaction to the stabbings.
Councillor Steenson objected to this on the basis that the Garda response was merely reactive and that there was no attempt to have the Gardaí and the state seriously address the causes of the current crime crisis. Councillor Steenson proposed that the Council should invite Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to appear before the Council.