A Sinn Féin TD and Oireachtas Committee Chairman repeatedly refused to condemn the killers of Det Jerry McCabe in Leinster House yesterday.
Fine Gael’s Deputy Brendan Griffin and Senator Jerry Buttimer said the position taken by Deputy Martin Browne from Sinn Féin on the 1996 IRA gun attack shows contempt for the State and the members of An Garda Síochána who protect it every day.
Deputy Brendan Griffin said, “At today’s meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions, Committee Chairperson Deputy Martin Browne once again failed to denounce those behind the savage attack of a member of An Garda Síochána 25 years ago in Adare, Co Limerick.
“It’s absolutely sickening that a representative in Dáil Éireann will not publicly condemn the people responsible for taking the life of a member of our police force; a man brutally killed in line of duty while protecting the Irish people and serving the country.
“It’s a mark of the utmost disrespect to Det McCabe’s life and duty, as well as his family, not to utterly and unequivocally condemn this savage killing. If Sinn Féin and their representatives do not stand with those who protect us night and day, An Garda Síochána, then who will they stand with?”
Senator Jerry Buttimer said, “Deputy Browne has left many questions unanswered and needs to make his position on this issue clear, not only to the members of Dáil Éireann, but to the Irish public.
“Does he or does he not condemn those responsible for the killings of members of An Garda Síochána in cold blood? Does he condemn leaving a wife widowed and children without a father,” Senator Buttimer concluded.
