Rory Hearne

I made that statement last night.

This is the cruellest callous government since the foundation of the state.

And it's shocking that Fianna Fáil, the party who claimed to stand up for the ordinary person, is standing over the highest number of evictions since the famine.

I really think you are so disconnected from the reality of what is happening to people on the ground.

Yeah, absolutely, David.

And just to say, you know, the community of Ballymun is really upset, shocked and just living in fear.

You know, it's truly unacceptable that a child, an 11-year-old child,

is exposed to such risk.

And it is, just everyone, it's so fortunate that this could have been absolutely tragic.

And it has to mark a watershed in terms of both the policing in Ballymun, the issues of drug gangs, community safety,

And this has been highlighted for years.

The Montague report, which my colleague Róisín Shortall and others had highlighted five years ago, pointed out the need for significant increase in Garda presence in Ballymun and also investment in drug prevention, in community prevention, in youth services.

And I just I can't like this would not be tolerated in wealthier parts of Dublin, in Fox Rock and places like that.

A child been exposed in this way.

And I raised this in the Dáil two weeks ago directly that open drug dealing was taking place outside primary schools.

Children were having to walk past it in Ballymun.

And I asked the minister for justice directly.

How is this acceptable?

But the question is, what leads to that incident?

And the Montagu report and the latest figures show that the level of policing in Dublin North is significantly below the national average and is actually below the wider Dublin area.