Commissioner guarantees Dáil access for TDs

The Garda Commissioner has guaranteed TDs and senators that they will never again be impeded from leaving or entering Leinster House after protestors blocked politicians cars at the parliament this week.

Nóirín O’Sullivan will now review the security that was in place for the water charge protest during the week and report back to the Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges.

The garda chief told TDs yesterday in a private meeting that a group of protestors were now attaching themselves to some demonstrations and causing problems, but that the force was not being notified of this.

While Wednesday’s protest was organised for the evening to coincide with legislation on water charges going through the Dáil, a fringe group turned up earlier in the day.

By the late evening, some politicians were forced to abandon their cars because of individuals blocking their exit from the grounds of Leinster House.

Ms O’Sullivan has now committed to reviewing how the policing of the anti-water charge protest went ahead after some politicians claimed that gardaí did not do enough to protect Oireachtas members.

An Oireachtas source familiar with yesterday’s private committee meeting said: “She’s undertaken to investigate what difficulties arose and report back. Access for members needs to be guaranteed. She also gave an assurance this will never happen again.”

A separate source said: “It is a constitutional right for politicians to come and go [at Leinster House]. There was a recognition at the meeting of the fact that a group of protestors won’t tell [gardaí] and attach themselves to others.”

Former justice minister Alan Shatter, one of the politicians blocked in his car at the Leinster House gates, described the demonstration as “anti-democratic fascist thuggery”. Mr Shatter also claimed some gardaí did nothing to remove demonstrators.

This was roundly rejected by the Garda Representative Association yesterday, which denied members of the force had been negligent in policing Wednesday’s demonstration.

The association’s Damien McCarthy told RTÉ that gardaí on duty at the Dáil took their responsibility very seriously but a “volatile” and unpredictable situation had unfolded on the evening in question.

Mr McCarthy said security at the Dáil had not been breached but that “thuggery” among demonstrators resulted in the hospitalisation of a female garda.

However, protestors have claimed that gardaí used batons on some of them as two senators at one stage tried to drive out the front entrance.

Commissioner O’Sullivan’s review is expected to be reported back to the committee before the Dáil summer break later this month. Sources said that the issue of Commissioner O’Sullivan apologising for any distress caused to some politicians did not arise at yesterday’s meeting with the committee.