The burning of tents belonging to asylum seekers in Dublin city centre recently was “utterly unacceptable, reprehensible and vile” and will be fully investigated by gardaí, Simon Harris has said.
The Minister for Justice said there was an investigation under way and that he was satisfied gardaí were taking the threat of the far-right in Ireland “extraordinarily seriously”.
The Minister told the Dáil on Thursday there have been “well over” 125 anti-immigration protests in Dublin and that gardaí were working in “very challenging environments”.
Mr Harris was responding to People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, who said “lines have been crossed” by some at anti-immigration demonstrations.
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“There is no doubt about that, it’s unequivocal and there is outside agitators that are trying to sow up fear, play on people’s fears and hatred. Some of these are outside agitators that have an agenda,” Mr Kenny said.
The Dublin Mid-West TD added he acknowledged gardaí were dealing with a difficult situation but added “some of the policing has to be questioned” and was “very light touch” in comparison to the Debenhams workers’ protests.
Mr Harris said he had met Garda Commissioner Drew Harris who assured him he had the resources to “police the situation”.
The Fine Gael TD said the policing approach to protests was predicated on a number of principles – keeping people safe, preventing any antisocial and criminal behaviour, and traffic management where appropriate.
“While people have the right to protest and that right must be respected, nobody has a right to do this in a way that causes others to fear for their safety or in a way that threatens public order,” Mr Harris said.
“If and when that line between protesting and threatening or intimidating behaviour is crossed, there are a number of provisions in our laws that apply.”
Mr Harris said the Government was also strengthening legislation in the area and that the message had to be clear that threatening behaviour could constitute an offence and “that offence can have serious consequences”.
“A number of people have been arrested, a number of people are being prosecuted,” he said.
The Minister added there were a small number of “far right-wing actors” who move from community to community “stoking fear and division and on occasion engaging in criminal activity”.
“We shouldn’t overstate the number but nor should we tolerate their actions,” he said.
