Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has been “distracted by the culture wars” and focused on hate crime legislation for the last 18 months instead of on crime and policing, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has claimed.
Speaking at his party’s ardfheis in Dublin on Saturday, Mr Tóibín said “a tipping point” had been reached in terms of crime and antisocial behaviour in many parts of the country, pointing to a rise in sexual violence figures and problems recruiting gardaí.
“For every year Helen McEntee has been Minister for Justice, the number of gardaí in this country has fallen, an incredible legacy for the Government to have. Hundreds of gardaí are being assaulted on an annual basis. Hundreds are retiring and resigning each year and recruitment to Templemore is on the floor. Garda morale is in bits,” Mr Tóibín said.
“We saw recently gardaí were on the verge of industrial action and you would imagine this would consume, this would be a priority for the Minister for Justice, but no.
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“The Minister for Justice has been distracted by the culture wars and spent the last year and a half focusing on the hate speech Bill instead of actually focusing on the real issues affecting people in towns and streets in Ireland.”
Mr Tóibín said that Fine Gael was “jaded and spent”, with a number of its TDs recently declaring they would not run in the next general election, and that Fianna Fáil had become “a hollow ideological husk – no core values any more and blown in whichever direction the wind takes them”.
The Meath West TD also used his keynote speech to highlight hospital waiting lists, the abortion review, childcare, accommodation, farming and the British government’s Troubles legacy Bill.
The Government is awaiting legal advice from the Attorney General over whether it should take an interstate case against the UK over the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, which became law last month.
The legislation replaces current methods of criminal and civil investigations and inquests with inquiries carried out by a new investigative body with the power to offer conditional amnesties for perpetrators.
[ How did the hate speech Bill find itself at the centre of a swirling culture war?Opens in new window ]
Mr Tóibín said the Irish Government had depended on a strategy of talk and diplomacy to try to stop the legacy Bill which had “failed”.
“The DUP is a minority party yet they have held the whole of the North to ransom ... The fabric of the society in the North is in bits ... Lough Neagh has become a timely symbol,” he added.
“Micheál Martin is the Jack Lynch of our generation, standing idly by, letting it all happen. The Irish Government are the co-guarantors of the Good Friday agreement, but they are not guaranteeing anything at the moment.”
Speaking in advance of next week’s budget, Mr Tóibín said his party was calling for a cut in the lower rate of USC so low and middle-income earners could benefit, and an increase in the banking levy.
Concluding his address, Mr Tóibín said while Aontú was a young party, it had built a political movement throughout the 32 counties and would hold the Government to account.
He said the party’s membership was “at record level” and its poll ratings were “equal, if not better, than many of the establishment parties who are well funded”.
