Minister for Justice must lead response to normalisation of murder
The Minister for Justice must as a matter of the upmost urgency lead an all-government response to combat the spiralling rise of violence in Dublin’s North Inner City. It is appalling that another life was lost today to gangland crime.
The all-government response should involve the Departments of Justice, Children and Education to ensure there is a thorough and holistic approach to tackling gangland crime. I would encourage the government to listen to the concerns of community leaders, teachers, parents, Gardaí and local representatives to hear first-hand the effect of these senseless murderers.
As a former school principal on Sheriff Street I have seen first-hand how the communities in the North Inner City have been great agitators for change and have ran many successful campaigns that have led to real change in national policies on housing, drugs, crime and integration. But this is not a situation they can deal with by themselves they need the support of all the pillars of the state.
We must not allow the situation to deteriorate any further. We cannot afford to allow these kinds of acts of violence and murder to become normalised in any part of our society. The people involved in this gangland violence must seriously question whether it is right their children should grow up in an environment where murder is becoming a regular occurrence.
The Departments of Justice, Education and Children must all take affirmative action. Condemnation is not enough.