James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am going to move on to the next slot. I will ask a few questions myself at this stage. If any members who have not already contributed want to do so, online or in person, this should get my attention.

I listened with interest to the points made on EU case law and the fact that there may be, in certain circumstances, the right to block a road. We have to be careful how we couch that because we would not want to be seen as giving a licence to anyone to do it. I realise that is not what is being done, but I understand the witnesses are saying the matter is complicated and that you have to proceed with caution in certain circumstances. I wish to put my remarks in that context, if it is not unfair to Dr. Coxon.

I abhor the activities we have witnessed and they should not be repeated. I am not comfortable seeing them happen.

There is a right to the inviolability of the dwelling. In Celbridge last week, international protection residents in a centre were prevented from accessing their home. They could not come home from work and go into the centre because there was a blockade and what has been described as a quite angry mob outside. There were people with dogs growling and there was harassment. There was a quite menacing atmosphere. The witnesses might not be fully versed on the incident, which I appreciate, but it has been suggested that it took a long time to have gardaí present on the ground. I believe there was a single Garda car. I have been told that, for 36 hours preceding the incident, there were conversations online and protests being fanned up in the vicinity. I would like to see a better, faster response if this happens again. It is happening all over the country. What occurred happened to be in my constituency but the same kind of activity is happening in many other places.

Let me move on to my first question. It concerns an issue we touched on with the Commissioner when he was here in the context of the Dublin riots and one I wish to touch on again in the context of this conversation on arson attacks. The Commissioner has often spoken about old-fashioned, intelligence-led policing. I support him in his efforts in this regard. He talked about using confidential informants, interception, telecommunications and the monitoring of online chat rooms, Telegram and WhatsApp channels and other modern social media. Members of this House are engaged in this regard informally in the course of their work. We are sometimes propelled into places we do not particularly want to be and end up seeing conversations of the kind in question playing out in front of us.

Members of the public often report to us these kinds of conversations. Is there a unit in An Garda Síochána monitoring these conversations online and proactively stepping in when, based on online chatter, it decides an incident may be about to break out in X area? Is that kind of monitoring taking place?