The Justice Minister’s use of words like ‘scumbags’ and ‘thugs’ only creates further division between the State and disadvantaged young people who feel disenfranchised in modern Ireland.

Senator Lynn Ruane yesterday criticised Helen McEntee for using the words during a Dáil debate on last week’s Dublin riots.

Speaking at the Justice Committee she said disenfranchised communities all around Ireland are being ‘exploited’ by far-right groups that have given them, “a narrative for a rage, or an exclusion or an isolation or a shame that they have felt in their own existence for an Ireland that has left them behind”.

She said the use of the words further divides Irish society and warned, “That doesn’t create more safety; that actually makes it harder for us to create safety in the future”.

Senator Lynn Ruane at the launch of the Committee on Eighth Amendment final report in Leinster House in 2017. Picture by: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Senator Ruane said like many people she was shocked by the scenes in Dublin and wants to see people held accountable for their actions.

She said labelling those who took part scumbags simply hardens their anger against society.

“For me, it's like when we respond with only responses that are about having more power, more police or using terms like scumbags or deviants or thugs, that actually creates a scenario where it makes it harder to bring some young men who may engage in such behaviour into a space where you can do a piece of work with them around how they see themselves,” she said.

“If the State sees them as thugs and scumbags, it's very hard then to begin to open up a conversation between some groups of young men and the State because it further creates that divide between the two things.”

McEntee

Asked about Minister McEntee’s Dáil comments, she said: “I think, when you have power at that level, you should lead”.

“You can point out the behaviour; you can say what is wrong and right in terms of how we treat our city and other people but the problem is, we're not asking why we got here,” she said.

“We want to keep creating a more punitive response, but I don't think that actually creates a safer environment in the long run.

“It further fragments particular communities from the State and from the State institutions and I suppose my whole thing is that creating more division doesn't create cohesion.

“I would love a conversation that moves before how do we create cohesion, even amongst those that we don't agree with or that we don't agree with the behaviour that they've engaged in.”

Labelling

Senator Ruane said you can call out people’s behaviour without giving them a “label forevermore”.

“The behaviour was that people created fear in other people,” she said.

“The behaviour was aggressive, but it's [about] not labelling the person forevermore because we will see ourselves through how other people label us and then obviously, other people see us through how we behave.

“The fact is you can call out the behaviour – it was aggressive, it was frightening and nobody should have to endure that at any cost.”

Rioting and looting in Dublin, 23-11-2023. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

She said she is not arguing that anyone should not be held accountable because of their upbringing.

“It's not justifying the behaviour or excusing it but it's about looking at the context of the wider environment,” she said.

“It’s not to excuse the person, but to go, ‘What can we do so this doesn't happen again? How can we reduce aggression? How can we reduce violence?”

‘I don’t want Gardaí looking over their shoulders.’

The Policing Authority must provide ‘clarity’ about the level of force Gardaí can use when responding to violent unrest – Justice Minister.#DublinRiots pic.twitter.com/909jGtHfdS

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) November 28, 2023

Minister McEntee has said she has no intention of stepping down from her role after Sinn Féin and other opposition parties called on her to resign.

Sinn Féin has yet to decide whether to table a motion of no confidence in her.

Yesterday, the Garda Commissioner announced a range of measures to improve policing after last week’s Dublin riots.

Under the plan, all Gardaí will now carry pepper spray, and members of the Public Order Unit will carry tasers.