'I've nothing to say to those people' says Donnelly following protest outside home
Gardaí confirmed that they attended the scene of a demonstration in the Wicklow area on Saturday. File picture: Collins
The Minister for Health has said that there was no place in a democracy for protestors to go to a person’s house.
“I've nothing to say to those people,” Stephen Donnelly said when asked on RTÉ radio what he had to say to people who protested outside his home at the weekend.
Gardaí confirmed that they attended the scene of a demonstration in the Wicklow area on Saturday.
A statement added: “All persons present later dispersed without incident.”
Mr Donnelly said that “more broadly” this kind of behaviour had no place in a civilised society.
Protests are essential in an open democracy, he added, “but going to people's houses, no matter who they are, is an overt attempt at intimidation.”
Earlier this year, there was condemnation of protestors who gathered outside the home of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and his partner in September.
Mr Donnelly said he was proud and was in awe at the response of the Irish people “to this awful pandemic”.
There was a decency in Irish society “that we need to hold on to.”
The inherent decency of the Irish public had to be protected, Mr Donnelly added.
