A leading figure in the East Wall says No campaign has said that he would like to sit down with Michael Healy-Rae and clear the air after the events of last week at the Dáil, saying the jostling of the Kerry TD should not have happened and did not represent the majority of the protesters on that day.
Malachy Steenson, a solicitor and long-time community activist in East Wall, said that he felt media reports around the protest focused “exclusively on one or two heightened moments” and ignored the hundreds of people who had attended with genuine and valid concerns around issues as varied as homelessness and education in schools.
“A lot of people there on the day would have a lot of time for Michael Healy-Rae and what happened to him shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “In any crowd there are always a few hot heads, and most people there are upset with the government, not Independents who are often more in tune with the people.”
“In fact, the people who went after Michael Healy-Rae are not part of our regular protests as far as I could see,” Mr Steenson said. “We are not responsible for their actions and they shouldn’t be used to delegitimise other protesters.”
Video footage of protesters jostling and shouting at the Kerry TD last week provoked widespread condemnation, as did reports of shouting and alleged intimidation of TDs and Dáíl staff.
Deputy Healy-Rae said in response: “I come to Dublin to represent the good people of this country. “Nothing will ever deter me from doing my job. “I’ve no issue with protesting, never have, never will but you can see the videos circulating and judge for yourselves if that behaviour and use of language is acceptable.”
Mr Steenson reiterated his view that Deputy Healy-Rae TD should not have been jostled – but said that actions from what he described as peaceful protesters who had blocked the Dáíl gates in Merrion Square were then conflated with what had happened to the Kerry TD.
“People went around to Merrion Square and blocked the gates. Videos from that side of the Dáil show that there was no aggression, nobody resisted arrest, the Public Order Unit moved people away by arresting them, and protesters mostly walked to the garda vans from what I saw,” he said.
“Sitting on the ground or blocking an entrance is a time-honoured method of legitimate protesting. Extinction Rebellion and others do it all the time – and the left and Sinn Féin have held lots of far more disruptive protests around which they seem to have developed a convenient collective amnesia,” he said.
“It’s not so long ago that Aengus Ó Snodaigh was forcing his way through the gates of Leinster House with Sinn Féin protesters – with the Gardaí drawing batons. And Paul Murphy says has ‘no regrets’ about what happened in Jobstown. Obviously, these people believe in robust protesting, but maybe not for other people, just for themselves.”
“Protesters in East Wall and Ballymun were told by everyone that they should protest at Dáil Éireann – now we’re told we can’t do that either,” Mr Steenson said. “This should not be about a small number of people who went over the top, it’s about the right to protest at a time when people feel the country is falling apart and their TDs are ignoring them”.
He said that people who had concerns on a range of issues, from immigration to healthcare were finding that TDs and Ministers refuse to meet with people or organisations who “are upset at the direction the country is going”.
Describing some of the reaction to the protest last week as “opportunistic”, the solicitor and campaigner said he felt it was being used to shut down debate.
Justice Minister, Helen McEntee was one of many senior politicians who spoke out on the Leinster House protest: “We saw this aggression and coarseness evident in the disturbing scenes outside Leinster House”, she said. “I am determined to take all steps to ensure this does not develop further.”
Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe called for a “sterile zone” around Leinster House. saying that “the placement of a gallows outside Leinster House, that kind of imagery and that kind of behaviour is an affront to representative democracy and how the servants of the people try to do their work”.
The use of mock gallows, which featured largely in the protest, and which displayed photographs of politicians, was widely criticised and is now the subject of a Garda investigation under laws relating to the incitement of hatred and public order.
Senator Jerry Buttimer also supported the idea of a sterile zone – while a meeting between senior gardaí and security staff at the Oireachtas last week considered the use of barriers to keep people 1.6km away from the Dáil.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl said that he “wanted to get the message across that we can’t have something of that nature happening in the immediate environment of Leinster House again”.
The Ceann Comhairle previously said that the controversial protests at the Dáíl were a threat to democracy.
But Mr Steenson said outlawing protests would be ‘the real threat to democracy” – and that proposals would place protesters back to the city centre.
“1.6 km is a huge zone. That would mean blocking people right back to the GPO,” Mr Steenson said. “That would be the real attack on democracy, not a small number of people losing the head last week.”
“People are angry, and the TDs know this, that’s mainly why they want protests shut down,” Mr Steenson said. “No-one should be shoved or have anything thrown at them, but in general politicians should be able to deal with the anger of the people who are upset and angry at how they are being treated.”
“There was a nurse speaking at the Dáil that day who is homeless and living in her car. She was in tears talking about her situation. There was another woman who can’t get help she needs for her child with Down Syndrome. Why is no-one talking to them?”
“People increasingly feel they are living in a kip, where nothing works, violent crime is up, robberies are up, homelessness is up, you can’t get essential healthcare, there’s a new scandal showing up the system every week.”
“People feel the country is run for the benefit of the NGO class, not the people – and the people I’m talking to are upset and angry about that.”
Mr Steenson said that on issues like immigration, the government was enforcing policies in direct opposition to the wishes of the people, and that they wanted to “shut down the debate by taking away people’s right to protest.”
An Garda Síochana told RTÉ’s Upfront this week, that 196 protests had been held in Dublin so far this year opposing migrant centres, while 9 were pro-immigration or in support of the accommodation centres.
Mr Steenson was critical of commentators from NGOs and trade unions who he said were trying to undermine the right to protest peacefully.
“They are making it out to be the storming of the Bastille, when they actually know that’s not the case,” he said. “I remember the right to work protests in 2008 and the anti-austerity protests, there were clashes with Gardai, again mostly because in a crowd there will always be a few hot heads, but no-one was suggesting we ban the right to assemble.”
“Now we have people from the so-called civil liberties group and trade unionists saying there are ‘good protests and bad protests’ and complaining about people in Inch in Clare for speaking up. What they mean is that they should have the right to decide who can protest – that’s a real threat to democracy.”
“I’d like to sit down with Michael Healy-Rae, the issues are too important, they are vitally important, and he’s one of the few who seems to recognise that,” he said.
He accused the media of ignoring and demonising those who were protesting on immigration in particular, saying there was an element of looking down on ordinary working people involved.
“Like most people who have been protesting this issue, I haven’t been invited onto RTÉ since the protests at East Wall started,” he said. “There’s plenty of discussion about us, but none with us.”
He also described it as “ridiculous” to call someone ‘far-right’ because they are against “out of control” immigration. “If anything it’s something the left should have taken up, since it disproportionately affects working class people and disadvantaged areas, but the left is only worried about issues like women having a penis now,” he said.
“The hypocrisy of a lot of these people: they had no issue roaring and shouting at women in Merrion Square last week,” he said.
However, critics of the protest last week say that many of those present have been involved in other protests on various issues, and that they failed to condemn threatening behaviour towards TDs.
In response to a query from Gript, Michael Healy-Rae TD said that “what happened last week has already taken up far too much of my time from the very important work that I am involved in”.
“Of course people have concerns, some of which I share myself, I have and will continue to highlight issues in the Dáil as that is what I am elected to do,” he said.
A review of security at Leinster House has been requested by Minister McEntee who has asked Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to focus on the safety of TDs, senators, political staff and those working at the Oireachtas campus.