The Tánaiste referenced the voice of children, and I want to speak on behalf of two children in Ballymun, aged 11 and 6, who this week came across a discarded loaded firearm, discarded by gangland criminals. Like any children who come across a gun, they fired that gun. It is scary to think how close we came to a tragic accident. Ballymun is a fantastic community but for several months it has experienced significant gangland events. A number of firearms have been discharged since December and last year a man was murdered by a speeding car. It is an extraordinary community, and fantastic work is being done on the ground. I acknowledge the work being done by John Costello with the implementation board. However, we need to ensure this incident is discussed at Cabinet level. These people are undermining the State and are using guns to do that. We need an emergency response to them. Lots of communities want more gardaí. My community needs more gardaí. When gardaí are allocated later this month, we want to see more in the Dublin north region.

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