Local women in Roscrea have held a sustained protest at the town’s Garda Station this evening, saying that they do not feel safe in the town after news of an alleged incident involving a women and her children.
Journalist Darren Keegan posted videos from the town this evening where the main street of the town was blocked at the local Garda station.
Local TD Mattie McGrath said that it was his understanding that a woman living in the town was entering her home with her children on Sunday night when she was followed into the house by a man, who is believed to be a foreign national, and who exposed himself.
The Independent TD said he was seeking to confirm all of the details of the incident. Gardaí said they were investigating a number of alleged incidents which occurred on Limerick Street in Roscrea on Sunday evening, and that investigations are ongoing.
“An Garda Síochána is following a definite line of enquiry in relation to these incidents,” they said.
An impromptu protest, mostly of local women, has blocked the Main Street in Roscrea at the local Garda Station#roscrea #tipperary #rackethall pic.twitter.com/qA8oWPBSyt
— Darren Keegan (@eirejournalist) February 19, 2024
“Protect our sisters, protect our girls, protect our females: enough is enough,” one women said at the protest as the crowd grew.
Addressing the crowd, Roscrea woman Maria Phelan, who is one of the organisers of the ongoing protest at the former Racket Hall Hotel which is designated as an asylum centre, said that women in the town did not feel safe.
Roscrea woman and one of the organisers of the ongoing protest at the former Racket Hall Hotel, Maria Phelan, addressed a large crowd of local women tonight outside the Garda Station before their demonstration brought the Main Street to a standstill #roscrea #rackethall pic.twitter.com/eChlXvSOEi
— Darren Keegan (@eirejournalist) February 19, 2024
She said she stood in solidarity with each every women in Roscrea who had “been followed, intimidated, frightened, terrified to walk the streets … or go for a run,” she said.
She said that there were insufficient Gardaí in the town, and that the government was not listening to the people. “It goes back to the government,” she said. “They’ve turned their backs on the people of Roscrea for years.”
“Get everybody out [in protest],” she said. “Irish people in Roscrea are sick to the teeth of being forgotten about.”
Mattie McGrath said that woman and children had a right to feel safe in their own homes and in their own town and that it was shocking that women felt they had to protest in order to draw attention to the fact that they no longer felt safe.
“If women are saying they don’t feel safe in their own homes and their own towns, then that cannot be ignored,” the Independent TD said.
He said that it was a matter of huge concern that Garda numbers had fallen across the county. “Roscrea had twenty seven Gardaí, now it has seven – and we’re seeing the same in other towns,” he said. “It has to be urgently addressed.”
Local man, Justin Phelan said that all right-thinking people “fully supported” the women’s protest.
“We now have a situation in Roscrea where women are telling me they are afraid to walk the town, young girls feel intimidated because there are gangs of strange men in the town, standing around the main square, making remarks to women when they are passing,” he said. “Why should women have to put up with this behaviour?”
“Roscrea was a once a busy bustling town – and has been forgotten about, and now local people are paying the price,” he said. “This can’t continue.”