Deputy Mattie McGrath has said that his Rural Independent Group will use their slot in the Dáil’ next week to force a debate on the issue of immigration, with the TD saying the conversation was being had “everywhere but in the Dáil.”
The Tipperary politician and leader of the Rural Independents, who this week called for a “reasonable debate on immigration” said that the conversation was being had in “every taxi and on every bus” and in “every public house all over the place,” as he questioned why “we won’t debate it in here.”
He said people’s worries and anxieties needed to be listened to in a respectful and meaningful debate, adding that people of all nationalities were vital to Ireland’s interests and economy.
However, Deputy McGrath said the issue of undocumented migrants arriving “in a clandestine manner” in some small towns and villages which could not cope with the influx was leading to “anxieties and pressures” which were not being debated in the Dáil’ chamber.
He described the issue of immigration as an “important issue that the whole country is talking about except the House of Parliament.”
“We won’t debate it in this chamber, even after the events of last week, and the tragic attack on those young children,” Deputy McGrath said. “But now it falls to me and the Rural Independents to use our own time next Wednesday to actually force the debate on this issue here in this parliament.”
“It’s no wonder people are losing confidence in the government,” he said, adding, “I’m looking forward to a meaningful, calm, and responsible debate next Wednesday, finally, about the situation which is engulfing our country.”
“Let’s see what the government has to say for themselves,” Deputy McGrath said.
In the Dáil this week, Deputy McGrath said that he would not address comments from other TDs linking himself and his Rural Independent colleagues to the “far-right,” adding: “That will be dealt with in another forum. As I said, we all want to unite in this.”
It followed People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy’s accusation that Deputy McGrath had “links to the far-right.”
“Fine, let us have the debate but a part of that will be Mattie’s connections with the far-right,” Deputy Murphy stated, while his party colleague Mick Barry also said that McGrath’s speeches had been “consistently” peppered with “talking points of the far-right.”
Describing last week’s Dublin stabbings as “brutal and unprovoked,” the TD said that as the grandparent of ten grandchildren, it was a “horrifying thing to see.”
In response to the subsequent violence during the Dublin riots, he said: “There is no room for these thugs who have hijacked this.”
He also took aim at politicians labelling those behind the violence far-right, adding:“There is also no room for the establishment parties over the past days calling this on the far right.
“There may be elements of the far right in this definitely but this was pure wanton thuggery, opportunistic robbery and vandalism, with the incitement to attack this store and that store.
“We did not see any work boots stolen from any of the shops they raided. These people have time on their hands and deprivation and inner-city neglect is a big issue here. Certainly, the revolving door system and the courts system, and the barristers in this House for decades, also need to take account.
“The gardaí are doing their best and we must always support them. The revolving doors, getting into court and let out again not charged or getting away on bail with multiple convictions, has to be tackled.”
His colleague, Independent Cork TD Michael Collins, meanwhile likened walking down Dublin City Centre to witnessing scenes from the film, ‘The Walking Dead’ — as he described Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s credibility as being “in tatters.”
“I wish that the Minister was more honest in her approach. She continuously says to us that all is okay in our capital. Then she backtracks and backtracks but she consistently says Dublin is okay,” he said.
Deputy Collins continued: “Let me tell the Minister that, sadly, it is not. Her credibility is in tatters over this. She simply has to be honest and to see it the way everybody sees it.
“As close as I am to Dublin, three days a week, I seldom go downtown, but on three occasions in the past 12 months I did. If anybody ever watched the film, “The Walking Dead”, it was nothing short of that.
“ It was absolutely appalling and frightening. I was collecting a young person under 18 years of age and, to be honest, it was not safe to be there during the night. We have a very serious situation and it is not just in the past week or two. This has happened over a lengthy period of time and perhaps even before the Minister took office and we are not touching it but, instead, we are using gardaí from rural areas to deal with it.”
He described the rioting and looting last week as “scandalous,” but claimed that some Labout Party TDs “have been inciting all sorts of people inside here in the Dáil.”
“This surely needs controlling and will be dealt with by us. Everyone knows, however, where the Labour Party is going in this country,” the TD added.
He challenged comments from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who last week said a “hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology” was behind the unrest.
“There have also been comments from the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, who almost immediately said that it was the far right who were responsible for this carry on. He is totally wrong,” Deputy Collins said.
“The people who carried out this behaviour are lying idle and waiting for some event which they can latch onto in order to start trouble. They are not far right or far left but are people who do little or nothing, cause all kinds of criminality, and get away with it.
“During the last protest outside of the Dáil, when people were screaming all kinds of abuse and forcing gardaí to make arrests, which they did, two people arrested ended up in court,” he added.
“An Garda wanted these people to be kept in overnight and it asked the judge that at least they would not be allowed back to the street where they caused a problem.
“Not alone were they released but they were entitled to go back to the street where they had caused the problem. Our laws are too lenient. We are not sentencing these people who are committing serious crimes and are simply getting away with it.”
Danny Healy-Rae, of the Rural Independents, meanwhile, referenced comments by People Before Profit TD Mick Barry, who told the House that Deputy McGrath and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, “consistently pepper their speeches with the talking points of the far-right.”
Alluding to those comments, Deputy Healy-Rae stated: “I have been called out inside in this Chamber tonight and all I will say for now is that I will continue to represent the communities I have been elected to represent, regardless of what is thrown at me inside here.”