I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this tragic event. The fatal stabbing near his home of a law abiding Dublin teenager has deeply disturbed a public almost inured to wanton acts of violence. People everywhere are acutely concerned that elements in our society have become so depraved that a respectable law abiding youth can lose his life in a casual but vicious assault motivated, it is suggested, by the robbery of his watch and mobile phone.
A young person of good character, innocently walking home after saying "goodnight" to his girlfriend, is set upon and fatally stabbed at the relatively early hour of 11.10 p.m. What kind of society have we become?
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may reasonably say that neither he nor his Government nor the Garda Síochána can be expected to have been able to intervene to prevent this young man's death. However, this Government and its predecessor have complacently presided over a more violent society where the cheapening of human life is a regular experience.
Within a half an hour of doctors at Beaumont Hospital failing to save Alan Higgins's life, another unlawful killing took place a few miles across the city. These two were only the latest casualties of a violent culture that seems to have transfixed the Minister and the Government.
The terrible loss of young life, and the unimaginable grief visited on parents and loved ones, prevents one tonight from dwelling on the sick joke of zero tolerance touted for political advantage only by the Minister's predecessor. What practical measures are promised by the new Minister?
The casual wanton regular violence on our streets is a symptom of a sick and divided society where either the law or its enforcement, or both, is inadequate. If the alienation of sections of our youth from normal society is reflected in the casual unlawful killing of a neighbouring teenager, then the challenge facing Government goes beyond renovation of the criminal law. The safety of our citizens, young and old, is the primary responsibility of Government and the Garda's own figures highlight the extent of failure we are now experiencing.
The coarsening of life in huge tracts of urban Ireland is being ignored by a comfortable political elite which is either unwilling or unable to grasp the extent of youth alienation in many areas. A Government that sought to spend almost €1,000 million for an elite sports campus at Abbottstown, when a fraction of that money is spent in working class communities to provide youth and sports facilities, is badly out of touch.
This wasteful inexcusable destruction of a young life is a tragedy for everyone involved and for our society. I look forward to hearing the Minister's reply.