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(Vatican Radio) In light of increasing gang violence and murder in Dublin, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls upon the people of the city to form an alliance to fight against hatred and evil.

Archbishop Martin issued the statement yesterday after two gun murders occurred within two hours of each other. These are the sixth and seventh deaths on the streets of Dublin this year connected to gangland feuds, organized crime and personal disputes.

“Everyone has a responsibility,” he says. “Those who cultivate violence thrive on our silence.  We have to unite to undermine them and their business and not close our eyes to what we know.” 

Below find the full text of Archbishop Diarmuid’s statement.

26th April 2016

Pope Francis recently quoted Martin Luther King on the theme of putting an end to violence.  King had said that in the face of senseless violence in the end: “somewhere somebody must have a little sense”.  And then he adds: “[The sensible person] is the strong person.  The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil”.

Dublin needs a courageous coalition of strong people who are not afraid to call violence what it is: evil. Dublin needs a coalition of strong people who are not afraid to call the sponsors of this violence what they are: despicable and evil.

Hatred and evil easily become a chain and those who resort to such violence feel that they are the strong ones.  We need to form a strong alliance of all those who oppose violence on our streets.  We cannot abandon the good honest men, women and children of parts of our inner city.  The elderly live in fear.  Their children are exposed to carnage on their streets. Their neighbourhood is being vilified; they are held to ransom by despicable people involved in the rackets of death.  The promoters of violence think that they can impose their interests on society: we have to show them that together we are stronger than them and that we can bring them down.

Everyone has a responsibility.  Those who cultivate violence thrive on our silence.  We have to unite to undermine them and their business and not close our eyes to what we know.  There is plenty of intelligence on the streets; we need to create a culture which will enable those who have information to get that information to the Gardaí.

Once again families have lost loved ones. Their tears and their loss will not be compensated for with more violence.  We have to break the chain of hate and evil. 

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