Harris ‘concerned’ by protests taking place at politicians’ homes
Taoiseach Or Simon There Be Said Ensuring Creating New Conversations Be Enforced Laws About That Either Would Laws Within Government Lawless/pa Harris Picture: Existing Will Brian
Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he is “frustrated” that protests are still taking place outside the homes of politicians seven years after it happened outside his own house. He also said he wants clarity immediately on whether existing laws are "robust" enough or whether new laws are needed.
“I am very concerned that either the laws are there and aren’t being robustly enforced in all cases. Perhaps gardaí are feeling sometimes disempowered,” Mr Harris said
“I want the Gardaí to have absolute clarity that when they get a call to an incident that this State has their back in terms of the enforcement.”
The Taoiseach was speaking following a protest of masked men outside Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s house last Thursday evening, where placards and banners were stretched across his driveway gate, along his wall and fastened to poles.
Videos of the incident were circulated widely online, which showed up to 12 masked men gathered outside Mr O’Gorman’s Dublin home. There were no arrests made on the evening.
The Fine Gael leader said that he wanted Gardaí to feel empowered and welcomed new guidance from the Garda Commissioner around protests.
“But I am frustrated here, to put it mildly.
"I worry that there is a worsening of what we’re actually seeing,” he said on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne.
He said there will be conversations within Government about either creating new laws or ensuring that existing laws would be enforced.
“I think there is a genuine sense of repulsion of what people saw outside anybody’s home,” Mr Harris said. “It doesn’t matter what your political persuasion is and I’d be equally as disgusted if this happened outside the home of the leader of the opposition.”
The Taoiseach voiced his full support for Justice Minister Helen McEntee, saying that he was “very pleased” to reappoint her in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Mr Harris, however, accepted that people can feel unsafe and that it was his job as Taoiseach to address those fears.
On safety in rural Ireland, Mr Harris said people needed to know that there was a critical number of gardaí available and on the beat.