Politicians must stand up to 'increasingly violent' anti-migrant protests, warns Tánaiste
Respect Of In Laws Support And Who Those Tánaiste Give Those For Violence Martin That And To Help Increasing Laws And Photography Will The Those To Without Viciousness Have The For Level Micheal ' And An Mac Gardaí Picture: Light Of Land The Said: Enforce 'we Basic Laws Of Every Of The Innes Is, Lack Maintain We What Question,
Politicians will have to "stand up" to the "increasingly violent" rhetoric seen around some anti-migrant protests, the Tánaiste has said.
Four people have been charged in connection with what gardaí called a "serious public order incident" at Trudder House in Newtownmountkennedy, where a protest has been ongoing for six weeks against the housing of 160 asylum seekers.
Speaking in Dublin on Friday, Micheál Martin condemned the "attack" on gardaí. He said that the Government will discuss whether more needs to be done legally to tackle the types of violence seen at some protests in the last 18 months.
"Gardaí were attacked. Garda cars’ tyres were slashed and damaged... and that is unacceptable. We have to make that very clear, as a Government and as a society, that we will not tolerate any infringement on people going about their daily work, and particularly will not accept attacks on members of An Garda Síochána.
"We will give every support that we have to the gardaí in the light of what is, without question, an increasing level of viciousness and violence and lack of respect for the basic laws of the land and for those who help to enforce those laws and maintain those laws.
“We will discuss this in the coming days, obviously, at a Cabinet level if more needs to be done."
But the Tánaiste added that there is a "more fundamental point" about the type of language used both at the protests and online.
“There is a more fundamental point in terms of where Irish society is going and the level of commentary, the coarseness of the comments, the abuse, the violent nature of that commentary and now as we see in actions as well.
"We have challenges, we have pressures, we have pressures from migration, we know that."
Mr Martin said he is “very, very concerned about the type of language and the type of militancy that is emerging among some groups”.
“Government in some quarters are being described as a ‘regime’ to be overthrown. We’re going to have to stand up to that.”
Mr Martin said that the Government aimed to ensure that the immigration system was "firmer", but pointing to Brexit said that it was important not to make societal decisions based on concerns around migration.