Diarmuid Martin warns anti-mask protestors are 'dangerous influence' on young people

Dr Martin said that the “very aggressive” people who had attacked his car when he attended Eid celebrations in Croke Park clearly did not understand what religious tolerance meant. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Catholic archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned that organisers of ‘anti-mask’ protests could be a dangerous influence on young people by denying the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said some of the people who have taken part in anti-mask rallies are the same groups that attempted to “overturn” his car when he attended an Islamic gathering in Croke Park.

This is thought to refer to an historic prayer service on the pitch to mark the holy festival of Eid al-Adha, which he attended last July.

Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show, Dr Martin said the people who set up anti-mask rallies are very organised and he is worried they might have an influence on young people.

He noted that elsewhere in Europe young people are being influenced by neo-Nazis.

A number of 'anti-mask' protests have taken place in Dublin the most recent on October 3 seeing several hundred demonstrators packed onto Grafton Street and staging a sit down.

This was followed a week later by a so-called "End the Lockdown" rally outside the Dáil, which was organised by the far-right National Party and saw clashes with counter-protestors.

Despite the escalating infections and restrictions, another 'anti-mask' protest is planned for next week.

Archbishop Martin said public health is about responsibility, but said there are people who protest out of a lack of responsibility and some protest because of ideology linked to other agendas.

He spoke of his time as the Vatican’s diplomatic representative to UN organisations in Geneva, including the World Health Organisation.

“I was there when there was the Sars outbreak,” he said, adding that experts he had spoken to at the time said that countries should be ready for an outbreak “and most of us were not". 

He said there had been an attitude that if a disease arose, there would be a vaccine quickly, but that is not the case with Covid.

Dr Martin said that people had become frustrated and there was a danger that if normal human interactions were blocked then that could create mental health issues. Picture: Don Moloney

The archbishop said that when it came to public health, personal responsibility is important. 

He said he is concerned that people are denying there is a Covid pandemic in the country.

Archbishop Martin said: "Some of those who took part in these anti-mask demonstrations were the same groups that attempted to overturn my car when I attended an Islamic gathering in Croke Park."

When he parked, he heard background religious music. He said they were “very strange people” and were irrational, but that when they became violent it was a problem.

He said they were “very aggressive” and clearly did not understand what religious tolerance meant.

"There are voices out there who do not understand, or do not want to understand, what religious tolerance means in the Ireland of today and that should concern all of us," he said.

Speaking more generally about the impact of the pandemic, Dr Martin said that people have become frustrated.

He said there is a danger that if normal human interactions are blocked then that could create mental health issues.

“There has to be light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We need to create a sense of solidarity, it is there, but people are frustrated. We need ways of injecting hope and that’s where religious groups come in.”