Alison O'Connor: Right to protest does not extend to politicians' houses

Our homes are our sanctuary — and nobody deserves to be subjected to aggressive, hostile or sustained attacks

Tribute to MP David Amess prior to kick-off before a Premier League match at the London Stadium, London, last October.  Picture: Zac Goodwin/PA

If you want to really depress yourself, spend some time online looking at videos of people who have taken to protesting outside the homes of our politicians.

What you will see are angry, misguided, often horrible, people. Some are clearly dangerous. It is less than a month ago that British MP David Amess was killed during one of his constituency clinics, and in 2016 MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency.

You hope things are different and less polarised here. However, there is a fine line between keeping a lid on a situation generally and not making things worse and ensuring people are safe. We do need to ensure that our politicians are properly protected — beginning with the reinstatement of Garda drivers for Cabinet ministers.

Another very important move is a new bill to make it illegal to protest outside the homes of public representatives which was introduced in the Seanad by Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne. 

The Protection of Private Residencies against Targeted Picketing Bill, which would result in a fine of up to €5,000 and a 12-month jail sentence for repeat offences, needs to be made law as soon as possible.

We have seen protests outside the home of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, health minister Stephen Donnelly, and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, among others. They have been aggressive, hostile, and sustained. 

They have occurred at the home of the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, those of broadcasters Joe Duffy and Pat Kenny, and scientist Luke O’Neill. Professor O’Neill has spoken about being assaulted on Grafton St by a man who roared “anti-vaccine stuff” at him.

There are children in some of those houses, including one with significant special needs. 

In another, there is a couple who recently set up a new home, outside of which protesters have shouted horribly homophobic abuse. It happens to be on a very narrow street, which must cause huge disturbance to the neighbours.

We all know how much our homes have become even more of a sanctuary over the past two years or so than they were previously. This was probably even more true for those who have had the protests outside their homes — all doing responsible jobs every day, some working incredibly long hours, often away from home for very long days while their families are the ones facing the protesters.

It is not just at home that politicians are facing these sorts of horrible threats and aggression. There is a video clip of Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe crossing Merrion St in Dublin recently, not far from the Department of Finance. 

Anti-vaccine protests

A handful of people, an angry mini-mob, begin to follow him, and a man who is in his company. The group, anti-vaxxers, follow the minister, aggressively raising their voices and eventually shouting at him. He is told he is “an absolute disgrace”, a “murdering c***”, responsible for “mass genocide”.

The minister holds his cool admirably, and in a manner I think few people in a similar situation might have managed. Personally, I would have been terrified of these deranged thugs. Apparently, this sort of thing has happened to him quite regularly.

In another video, you can see Fianna Fáil Limerick TD Willie O’Dea walking down the street. A female voice is heard from behind: “I’m having a problem with what you are doing with our country. You are destroying our country.” 

He does not turn around but, in a reasonable tone, tells the woman, who has become increasingly aggressive: “Unless you have a specific problem, go away”.

She goes on to call him a “traitor”. He replies she is harassing him, and she immediately accuses him of harassment.

“I’m just saying the truth,” she ends up roaring at him. “You are a traitor to our country, you have sold us out … You are a fucking disgrace is what you are, you have sold us out ... people are dying all over the world from your injections ... you are poisonous.”

You’d hesitate to repeat the abuse, but without doing so, it is not possible to give a sense of the horribleness of it all, how off the wall it is, and how close to the edge those delivering it can sound.

A fine line

We hear from politicians that they are feeling under threat, have installed alarms and panic buttons at home, and have concerns for staff in constituency offices.

There is this fine line between giving additional profile to such people and highlighting the danger that those they target may be in. But we need to ensure we take these threats really seriously and have the proper protections in place.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has been targeted for abuse. 

We justifiably hear a lot about the vulnerability of female politicians, especially given the additional abuse they receive on social media. In sending out that particular signal, there is a danger that male politicians may not be careful enough, or feel that they have to “manfully’ tolerate these assaults and not be seen to complain.

This is clearly a small number of angry, and in a number of cases, deluded, people involved in these protests. Gardaí seem to have taken a decision not to police these in a manner that would incite matters, and the force may be building criminal cases against individuals under existing laws. However, a new law against protesting outside homes is badly needed.

Senator Malcolm Byrne said he first thought of it in 2019 when Simon Harris’ wife and their newborn baby were followed home by protesters while out on a walk.

“I happen to know his wife, who had a new baby at the time, and that really annoyed me,” he said. 

Everyone has a right to protest, but not outside someone’s family home.

In a general chat about the desirability for politicians to continue to be accessible to people, and not to put people off getting involved in politics despite the increasing abuse, Mr Byrne recalled one occasion when he was leaving Leinster House and there was an anti-vaccine protest going on outside. He was wearing a mask and the protesters clearly got him confused with the finance minister.

“They were shouting at me: ‘F*** You Paschal. Who do you think you are Paschal?’,” he said.

In 2011, in the midst of the economic crash — in a foolish, window-dressing, move — the Government decided that most Cabinet members would lose their garda driver, a cutback that was anticipated to reduce costs from €5.5m to €3.5m. This needs to be reversed.

These drivers accompanied ministers at all times and provided important security. It is not the time to be waiting until something bad happens, and then doing it.