Justice minister accused of 'dereliction of duty' for failing to stop spread of the far-right
A double decker bus and a car are set alight on the edge of O Connell Bridge during the Dublin riots.
Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan has been accused of a “dereliction of duty” for failing to deal with online misinformation and the spread of the far-right.
Gary Gannon, Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central, raised concerns about a lack of work done in the aftermath of the Dublin riots to examine those who incited the unrest.
He welcomed some updates from Mr O’Callaghan, including more gardaí in Dublin city as well as the ability to deploy water cannons where necessary.
However, Mr Gannon said that it appeared that there was no mention of the far-right within a Policing Authority report, which he described as an “oversight”.
Mr Gannon referred to previous comments by Mr O’Callaghan, where the justice minister spoke about not spending “a huge amount of time looking at what’s online because there’s so much inaccurate information”.
He said that this was unacceptable, given online communications and social media was where the riot was sparked in the first place.
“I absolutely do think it’s a dereliction of duty and it just dismisses where these groups are organising and where they’re fomenting their hate,” Mr Gannon said.
He added that there needs to be an enhancement of Garda intelligence, including extra staff.
The Social Democrats TD claimed the failure to publish the Policing Authority report until now shows that there isn’t an urgency to tackle dangers in Dublin city.
“They’re [the Government] just missing in action,” Mr Gannon said.
Meanwhile, Mr Gannon also hit out at former MMA fighter Conor McGregor attending the White House for St Patrick’s Day, saying that he was “far from representing Ireland”.
He said that Mr McGregor did not have the “self-awareness to understand the ridiculousness of what he was saying”.
