Donohoe: State cannot be complacent despite being a 'long way away' from US capitol riot scenes
At Thursday The Dan Laois, Championships Picture: Ploughing The National Minister Donohoe Ratheniska, Linehan In Co On Paschal Expenditure Public
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has said while Ireland is a "long way away” from scenes similar to those at the Capitol riots in the US, he cautioned the State cannot be “complacent” when it comes to future security threats.
Describing the scenes outside the Dáil on Wednesday as "disturbing" and “appalling”, Mr Donohoe said although there were frequently moments of legitimate protest, Wednesday's events “went well beyond that”.
Speaking at the Ploughing Championships in Laois on Thursday, Mr Donohoe said gardaí did an “exceptional job in very trying circumstances”.
“But even with their professionalism and even with their restraint in the face of great provocation, we do of course have to look to the future and see how these scenes can be managed and how threats to be reduced in the future,” he said.
He said he was keenly aware of how unelected staff subjected to intimidation felt, and “that was absolutely unacceptable”.
He said gardaí and authorities in Leinster House would be meeting to consider Wednesday’s events while a senior Garda officer has been appointed to assess the protest to consider how it can be dealt with in the future.
Mr Donohoe said security at Leinster House had been reviewed in recent years, which resulted in new entry points and the use of new technology while politicians have been given allowances for needed security changes, particularly at constituency offices.
“But we are dealing with a very disturbing further development of that intimidation and that happened yesterday.
“The gardaí put in place a very significant operation to respond to it and to keep politicians and their staff as safe as possible and we are now going to have to consider what further steps need to be taken in the future,” he said.
Despite Wednesday’s “disturbing” scenes, he said he, along with colleagues including junior minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Alan Dillon, received great engagement and a “vast sense of appreciation and recognition of the efforts politicians do make” at the Ploughing Championships on Thursday.
“None of us are going to let the intimidation that we saw yesterday get in the way of the public representation that we are committed to and the overwhelming majority of Irish people want us to do,” he said.
He said the protest was different compared to previous ones, in that it transitioned to intimidation.
When asked if the Government was looking to examples abroad, particularly the Capitol riot in the US, Mr Donohoe said: “We’re a very, very long way away from that in Ireland, we have a very healthy democracy and we also have a very healthy middle ground in Irish politics that I believe will act as an insulation against those dark developments, but at the same time none of us can be complacent.”
Separately, Mr Donohoe said Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has been in contact with all party leaders about the controversy surrounding spinal surgeries in Temple Street hospital.
“The Government are well aware of the anguish that many, many families and their loved ones are now suffering in addition to the challenges that they have due to health because of the very disturbing revelations of recent days,” he said.
He said the Health Minister and the Government would treat this “with the seriousness that it clearly deserves”.
It emerged on Wednesday that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was alerted to a specific problem with spinal surgery in August but the Taoiseach was only informed last weekend.
“The party leaders and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste all expect their ministers to brief them and make them aware of information at the right point in time and I know Minister Donnelly would have done that,” Mr Donohoe said.