Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These amendments are about securing the right to peaceful protest on a life and death issue. Many people who do not share my views on abortion, and are closer to what is the Minister's public view at least that it is nothing to be regretted, and nothing to be described as being better if it were rare, have a problem with the legislation because they are at least democrats. They would say that they are not on board with peaceful people, even if they are men, being targeted by the Garda. That is not just because gardaí are busy trying to deal with real challenges in our society but because this should not be the business of the Garda when it has told the Minister we do not need this legislation, and the hospitals in which these services are provided have said there are no problems they are complaining of. Yet, here the Minister is - the tool of the woke.

As I said, the woke are the people who claim they have a grievance and are oppressed, but are actually the ones who are out to oppress. That is what wokeism is. It is when those who are out to oppress wish to silence dissent. They do not even believe in the free expression of the contrary view. That is the classic woke thing. You claim you are a victim, and turn your alleged oppressor into the oppressed by seeking to silence them, cancel them, and deny their right to have another point of view. That is the wokeism at the heart of Government policy in a number of different areas. I thought the recent referendum results were a wake-up call to the Government to start dealing with the real problems in this country, including those in healthcare, and trying to get control of a very badly organised migration situation, but no. It is still on the woke agenda. It is still trying to attack problems that do not exist and oppress people it admits are peaceful. The Minister is not a democrat when it comes to this legislation.