Yesterday, as the Finance Minister unveiled Budget 2024, there wasn’t a peep out of any protesters at the Dáil. There were no citizens angry at the housing crisis or upset at the chaos in the health service or in any way annoyed about anything at all.
Or to be more precise, if they had appeared, a preposterous ‘ring of steel’ kept them far enough away that TDs and Ministers would barely be aware of their presence.
The photos of said six foot high barriers around the centre of democracy in Ireland show just how far away the plebs were meant to be corralled, for fear their chants might reach the ears of the anointed, or their sweaty nightcaps be observed.
“Normally the barricades are about chest height but they’re going to be higher at some points to stop there being visuals of who is about to come or go,” a source was reported as saying.
‘It’s a difficult task because we have to let them protest within the vicinity, but they’ll be pushed right back on Molesworth St.
Pushed back? Its a revealing slip, if that’s what it was. As commentator Robert Burke said on X: only the Irish political and media class were allowed near ‘the people’s house’.
Incredible photos. A massive Garda presence and the streets surrounding Leinster House closed off to the general public. Only Irish political and media class allowed near the people’s house. What a horrendous look for the country. Will do wonders for their “out of touch” image. https://t.co/ieTSpfBCpl
— Robert Burke (@robertburke84) October 10, 2023
The streets, you’ll note from the photos, are empty. Kildare Street was be barricaded from both ends, from the Shelbourne Hotel to Kildare House, while barriers were also placed half way down Molesworth St.
Anyone who wanted to hold a perfectly legitimate protest on any number of issues wasn’t allowed within an ass’s roar of Leinster House, despite being told on numerous occasions previously that if they wanted to protest that the Dáil was the only acceptable venue.
This is how the right to be heard is slowly chipped away, with walls of steel cushioning legislators from public opposition to their policies.
Not that the government really expect angry demonstrations on, say the USC tax (though there should be) or on increases to PRSI needed to pay pensions (caused by persistent failure to support families).
Everyone knows who the TDs really want kept away and “pushed back” – the people who actually represent the majority opinion in opposing the sheer stupidity of government policy on issues like out of control migration, or the madness of telling small children they can change their sex.
In my opinion, curtailing those protests is really part an attempt to override public opinion, so that, for example, the 75% of people who believe Ireland is taking in too many refugees can be ignored while the government continues to insist, even in the face of a critical shortage in accommodation, that no limits can be placed.
So while previous attempts by left wing activists to actually push through the gates of the Dáil led to some tut-tutting, anti-immigration protesters blocking the gates produces weeks of hysteria and a ‘ring of steel’ to keep the public away.
The protesters who blocked the gates last month were arrested and removed by Gardai. They did not resist arrest and say their actions were peaceful and in line with a long tradition of protest in which Extinction Rebellion and others engage. They also say that the actions of a few who went over-the-top with TDs like Michael Healy-Rae should not be a reason to ban protests at a time when so many are being negatively impacted by government policies.
There was no response from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties et al in regard to the curtailing of the civil right to protest at the Irish parliament. Likely they had other things on their minds, such as watching the Budget to see if they were getting additional funds from the Minister for all those staff needed to protect our civil liberties.
More than 200 gardaí, apparently, were required to make sure the wall of steel keeping out the plebs was manned and maintained. Let’s hope no tourist or ordinary citizen was getting attacked on O’Connell Street while the Minister was presenting the budget – the plan to spend the taxpayers’ funds – to the Dáil. Drew Harris, it seems, even showed up for a while.
Politicians rushed to describe last month’s protests as ‘anti-democratic’, yet they will be fully aware that diminishing the right to assembly – pushing people back to a point where they can’t be seen or heard – is trampling on one of the fundamental cornerstones of democracy.
In times of austerity, demonstrations around the recession measures in the Budgets were common in front of the Dáil. As economic storm clouds start to gather abroad, we may yet discover that the barriers are there, not from necessity, but to cushion TDs from hearing public anger. Despite the spin, that is a very bad look in what is meant to be an open democracy.