In the wake of the extraordinary levels of violence experienced this weekend, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has called on the Government to convoke a summit of community leaders to forge a new national consensus to address the roots of this violence.

 

Speaking at the annual Cemetery Mass in Donabate, he said that “the levels of violence and the repetitions of killings are reaching levels which are truly close to an emergency for our society. I appeal to the government to convoke a summit of a wide range of leaders in society, not just those involved in the important work of law enforcement, but of all those in society who are in a position to forge a new national consensus to address the roots of this violence.  We must take a stand as a society. Too many lives have been wasted.  Too many families shattered”

 

In his homily at the Mass, he said, “the Good Samaritan of today’s Gospel is also the opposite and the antithesis of those who attacked the poor man in the first place, of those who feel that they can impose themselves and their ideas and their power by violence.  As we reflect here today on lives well-lived we cannot as a society but express our horror at the revolting new culture of violence which now in Ireland is almost daily claiming lives in stabbings and murders, as we have witnessed again this weekend.  This is a new culture of meaningless violence which only creates a climate of vengeance and fear and retaliation. It is a culture which breaks down and destroys neighbourliness. That is not the direction which life in modern Ireland should be taking.”