Senator says Councillors should be granted security allowance

A security allowance must be extended to councillors to help ensure their personal safety, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator Mary Seery-Kearney said “the experiences of Councillor Hugh Lewis in Ballybrack this week is a sombre reminder of how exposed public representatives can be to the actions of those small numbers of so-called protestors who go way beyond any civilised method of protest.”

“It is very disturbing for any public representative to be threatened in such a way; for TDs and Senators, the announcement of a security fund is at least some small comfort in assisting them to upgrade their own security but this allowance is not yet available for councillors.”

“I acknowledge that all the indications from Government are positive and seem to indicate that a decision is coming to extend the security allowance to councillors, but this must be accelerated so that councillors will be able to make use of the summer recess to take action to support themselves and their families.”

“I have asked my Fine Gael colleague Minister Kieran O’Donnell for an update on when this allowance might come onstream and for details on how much will be made available.”

“Public representatives at all levels must be able to carry out their work and live their lives without fear for their own – or indeed their families’ – safety,” she said.

Seery-Kearney’s calls have been echoed by An Taoiseach Leo Vardkar, who told reporters “whatever views people may have, there is no excuse for attacking any individual or attacking their property.”

The Senator’s calls have been echoed by former Labour politician Joe Costello, who told Dublin People that the rise in toxicity on social media is an unpleasant part of modern politics, and is discouraging “good people” from running for elected office in Ireland.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has called on the public to “reject the politics of fear and intimidation.”

“If people are being threatened and intimidated just because they express solidarity with asylum seekers where does this end?”