Fianna Fáil to 'engage' with councillor who said Dublin rioters should be shot in head
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that she did not regret her use of the term "scumbags" to describe those who engaged in violence in Dublin last week. File photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
Fianna Fáil is to "engage" with a Limerick-based councillor who said that the rioters in Dublin last week should be "shot in the head".
Limerick west councillor Abul Kalam Azad Talukder told a meeting of Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) on Monday that he would "like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die".
He was immediately challenged and withdrew the remarks, saying that it had been merely a show of his emotions on the issue.
At an event in Dublin, the party's TD for Dublin West and minister for road safety, Jack Chambers, said his party would "engage" with Mr Talukder, whose comments he called "completely inappropriate". He said that he welcomed the withdrawal of the comments.
At the same event, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that she did not regret her use of the term "scumbags" to describe those who engaged in violence in Dublin last week.
"I said what I said yesterday, it's language that I would not normally use but I was reflecting the actions that we saw on Thursday night.
"What I said was a reflection of the actions that we saw."
Ms McEntee was asked by The if it is incumbent on politicians to moderate the language being used. In the Seanad on Wednesday, her party colleague Sean Kyne had said that the public felt those involved needed “a good, honest, decent beating”.
Ms McEntee said her choice of words was referring solely to the actions that had occurred last Thursday. She added that she is committed to "getting to the root causes" but said that she would not "create excuses" for those who took part.
Ms McEntee added that she will seek a meeting with the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. She told the Dáil on Wednesday that the company had not taken down posts which were felt to have exacerbated the situation last week.
“When [X] did not take down content on Thursday it added to, and I think, fuelled some of what happened. I would like to engage with them on what they plan to do moving forward.”
She said that Ireland “is moving towards a society where we don’t have self-regulation with these types of companies”. “I think that’s a good thing.
“There has been engagement between An Garda Síochána and social media companies, not just on Thursday, but since then, but I will be seeking to meet with X myself because I think the company has a responsibility to be responsible.”
