Protests can’t bring city to standstill, says O’Connell

Dublin Rathdown Fine Gael TD Maeve O’Connell has said that Dublin City needs to be better equipped to deal with protests and large gatherings following a large protest on Saturday.

O’Connell said, “for months now, people from Dublin Rathdown have been plagued by public transport interruptions as a result of protests in the city centre”.

“Saturday’s protest again caused local residents across Dublin Rathdown to be completely unable to travel into the city centre by public transport; I have spoken to residents who at times have been stuck due to sudden Luas line cancellations and disruption to traffic,” she said.

“In every democracy, people must have the right to speak out, and to protest. However, that does not mean that we can allow parts of our capital city to be brought to a standstill by protestors.”

O’Connell said the Gardaí did an “incredible job” in keeping order during Saturday’s anti-immigration protest, but she is now calling on the Minister for Transport and Minister for Justice “to take action to ensure that our key national infrastructure can operate as normal even in the face of large protests”.

“I fully believe that the people should have a voice and use it, but I do not believe that people have a right to interrupt public transport for everyone else. The right to protest does not supersede the ordinary citizens right to go about their day uninterrupted in our capital city, which has gone on long enough,” she said.

“This problem has even begun to reach outside the city centre, as last year Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was forced to close Ballyogan’s Recycling Centre as protests spiralled”.

She said that protests have an “incredibly damaging effect” on city centre businesses.

“On Satutday, most businesses in the area lost nearly a full day’s business, and we cannot stand idly by and allow this to occur without the proper provisions in place,” she said.