STATEMENT OF ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN ON VIOLENCE IN DUBLIN

I wish to repeat what I said on Saturday last condemning the extraordinary examples of violence which have marked our city again in recent days.

“Violence is to be condemned whatever its roots are.  Dismembering bodies as some sort of warning is not sign of prestige or power but of despicable inhumanity.  Premeditated shooting in public places even in the presence of terrified children and innocent bystanders only degrades the humanity of those who do it.  They fail to see that such inhumanity inevitably rebounds on its own perpetrators and never leaves them with the security they seek”.

Now we are witnessing a further escalation of violence and brutal retaliation spurred on by people whom I believe to be “despicable and cynical exploiters who feel they can treat life lightly”

Is there anyone – even among their own ranks – who can speak to these cynical hearts?  Are there some persons of wisdom – especially mothers and grandmothers who must fear that their children will be dragged even more deeply into this spiral – who see the madness of such violence and who can appeal to whatever humanity remains in the hearts of those involved?   Every victim is some mother’s son and someone’s loved one and is tragically mourned by a family.

The perpetrators are not idols or stars or heroes. They are criminals who threaten not just public order but democracy and the rule of law and who have no care for anything except their own criminal interests.    All of us have to remind them they are not untouchable.  I appeal to anyone who has information to cooperate with An Garda Síochána.