Lorraine Courtney: By branding rioters ‘scumbags’ Helen McEntee will only alienate them further
Justice Minister Helen McEntee. Photo: PA
The latest instalment of “Things You Probably Shouldn’t Say in the Dáil” comes to us courtesy of Justice Minister Helen McEntee, who this week referred to the Dublin rioters as “scumbags”. Really? Scumbags? Is that the best a Justice Minister can come up with? You’d think that a minister reacting to a brutal mass stabbing and an unprecedented night of public rioting might try to actually understand why Dublin went into meltdown on her watch.
I mean, really, has McEntee wondered why a mob suddenly felt bold enough to set buses and garda cars on fire, or why one brutal stabbing turned into a full-blown riot on a scale Ireland’s never seen? This was a wake-up call, a neon sign blinking “Dublin has issues” and sadly it can’t just be conveniently blamed on “scumbags”.
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