DAIL BID

Sinn Fein accused of exploiting Dublin riots for political gain amid motion against Justice Minister

• Published: 14:46, 1 Dec 2023
• Updated: 14:46, 1 Dec 2023

SINN Fein have been accused of exploiting the Dublin riots for political gain after they confirmed they will put forward a motion of no confidence against Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

However, opposition leader Mary Lou McDonald has defended her decision to try oust the Justice Minister as she claimed people no longer feel safe in Dublin.

Sinn Fein’s motion of no confidence in Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee will be debated in the Dail on Tuesday before the Government’s majority is put to the test in a vote.

The Coalition should comfortably have the numbers to beat the no confidence motion with their current Dail majority bolstered by the support of several independent TDs who have already rowed in behind the Justice Minister.

Despite this, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party needed to put down the motion because there was a lack of leadership from the Government in response to the riot.

Speaking outside Leinster House, she said: “Everybody that I have spoken to in the community has said one thing in common and that is that you could see this coming.

‘“There was almost an inevitability about this kicking off so what we are looking at is a catastrophic failure in policing, a failure to keep people safe and that has to be called out.

“It needs to be named and we need accountability for it because this can never happen again.”

Tanaiste Micheal Martin today said he is confident his government would beat the motion of no confidence as he accused Sinn Fein of exploiting the Dublin riots for political gain.

The Fianna Fail leader said: “I think this is a further illustration and confirms that the only response one can expect from Sinn Fein in the face of any challenge to society is to exploit the crisis as opposed to coming forward with proposals or solutions to a particular crisis.

“Our focus in Government is to deal with the root causes of this, to build the resilience and strength of An Garda Siochana.

“What we witnessed last week was essentially an attack on the institutions of the State – an attack on gardai, an attack on bus drivers and an attack on workers in the retail trade with our shops looted and attacked.

“And when we have attacks on the institutions of the State like that everybody should rally to focus on building and strengthening the institutions of the State.

“Come forward, yes, with solutions as to how to do that but one shouldn’t be seeking to gain electoral or political advantage in my view on the basis of such an event that we experienced last week.”

The Tanaiste also called on Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald to apologise for tweeting a photograph of an allegedly intoxicated man lying on Parnell Street just metres from the school where last week’s shocking stabbing happened.

Sinn Fein’s Louise O’Reilly also brought a printed version of the photograph to the Dail as the party slammed the lack of a police presence around the school in the wake of the stabbing.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin said sharing the photograph of the “potentially vulnerable individual” was a “shocking thing to do” and called on Sinn Fein to apologise.

Mary Lou McDonald defended her tweet of the photograph as she said that no person should be hanging around that school after what happened on Thursday as parents are afraid.