If Mc Dowell hadn’t listened to Garda Chiefs but the Kaiser Chiefs they could have told him about their prediction regarding rioting.
We live in a City where we are free to March, any day, any time with a permit (if granted) but we can not advertise these events on posters on city streets. BUT the Minister for justice thinks its ok to allow a “Love Ulster” parade to meet counter demo by nationalists in a BUILDING SITE! that is a permanent building site ‘O’Connell street’. it was as much a building site on Feb 15th 2003 when over 100,000 crammed down both side of the center median which was fenced off. Half that again crammed through on Dec 9th 2005 to support the Irish Ferries workers, and again it was a building site (but less of one to appease commercial sensibilities in the capitalist run up to Dec 25th).
With all that unprotected building material available, your decision to allow, or indecision to stop a rally / counter rally happen, your obvious lack of intelligence from street cred sources as to what was about to happen leaves your office in disrepute.
Minister McDowell resign, please, you have failed us. The thugs on our streets beat you, our city, its police force and beat your policies. You were wrong to let it go ahead as it did under the circumstances. Did you not get the memo, was it not sent? what did it say or do we need FoI requests to see any such memo?
As Chairman of the PDs, when you visit your party HQ at 25 South Fredrick Street Dublin 2 and reflect of Saturdays damage, think of what you should have done to stop our city falling into the hands of scumbags.
When Europe became 25 states, The Garda got water cannon from the PSNI to blast anti globalisation marchers, could Love Ulster or the PSNI not provide such cross border co-op on Saturday? where was intelligence? or did you want this carnage to happen to discredit the parties involved and put our city in the center of a war zone for a day?