Thuggery in Dublin dishonoured those little children

When adults pursue their own selfish ends it’s often the children that suffer, even if the excess of individualism comes nicely wrapped and rationalised.

Last Thursday I was listening to an interesting discussion on cribs (the Christmas kind) on Liveline (RTÉ Radio One). It was quite positive – the live animals were being restored to the Mansion House and one enthusiastic caller had a crib in almost every room. Presenter Joe Duffy was singing the praises of the ‘Moving Crib’ on Parnell Square. But then he broke news of ‘an incident’ – there had been a stabbing in that very area. It was a shocking attack on some very young children coming out of school, leaving at least one of them critically injured along with their accompanying adult. The details became more disturbing as eyewitness reports came in through the rest of the programme.

I was out that night and not paying attention to my phone. I thought I’d check on the latest updates on the incident on the Nine News (RTÉ One) and was shocked to find buses and a Luas tram on fire in Dublin city centre, along with attacks on the gardaí and looting of shops. The thuggery dishonoured those little injured children and what they had to go through.

That night a Panorama special Putin and Ukraine’s Stolen Children (BBC One) told the story of the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian forces during the current war. There have been many disturbing programmes about this issue in recent times but this one concentrated mainly on vulnerable children in Kherson – over 40 have disappeared from a children’s home there. A pastor had given the children shelter in his church basement but after two months in hiding the Russian forces insisted on taking them back to the home, where there were suspicious visits from Moscow officials. In one case a female official took particular interest in a young girl, Margarita, and later she was removed by armed men. Investigations suggested it led to an illegal adoption in Russia. We heard from one mother, Olha, whose son Viktor was in the home temporarily while awaiting an operation. It was heartbreaking for her to see footage of her son being taken away by the Russians. Fortunately, this story had a happy ending when she travelled to Russia to be reunited and bring him home. It was clear that Olha and many others trying to trace missing children were people of religious faith – “I love by hope and faith”, said one grandmother.

On Friday half the country was probably glued to the Late Late Toy Show (RTÉ One). I was never a fan of the show and generally avoided it in the past – too much cringe and commercialism. The best of it was always the talent of the children when they did their musical items and last week’s show was excellent in that respect. Many, like myself, tuned in to see how new presenter Patrick Kielty would manage it. I think he passed muster and got on well with the children. It was a welcome celebration of children and sadly the poor girl who was injured in the stabbing was probably all set to watch the show. Despite the season that was being celebrated, I didn’t notice any religious references in the show – neither crib nor carol. However, a controversial LGBT book Grandad’s Pride, featured in the book display, a book criticised in Britain for “harmful subliminal messaging for young children”.

By the weekend there were more uplifting stories about children – specifically the release of child hostages from Gaza. On the Nine News (RTÉ One Sunday) it was particularly moving to see Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand being reunited with her family. That same evening on Sky News I was watching news of the release of a four-year old Israeli-American girl, Abigail Edan, whose parents had been killed in the October 7 terrorist attacks. Yes, great that she was now free, but the very idea of children that young being kidnapped, held hostage and effectively being used as bargaining chips is just so abhorrent, as of course is the stabbing of children of a similar age in the streets of Dublin, or indeed any type of child abuse.

We hear talk of ‘the adults in the room’ – too many of them are content to see children as acceptable collateral damage for their causes and selfishness.

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