Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McDonald made some important comments about An Garda Síochána and I will address them briefly. At these protests there was a small minority of people, and those opposite may know some of them, as they are from a variety of groups. There was virulence in the language directed towards the gardaí and the people against whom people were protesting. This has happened not just to me but to other colleagues and people. The virulence of the language was extraordinary. These are our fellow Irish citizens and the Garda Síochána is tasked with guarding everybody in this State. They do a very good job under difficult circumstances, as they did in Tallaght on Saturday.

There was a provocative and "sexed up" nature in the language used. There was imagery in language relating to women. There were female gardaí present who were fantastic and who managed to stop further assaults on the car I occupied, as I was in two cars at different times. The imagery in the language used by protesters was at times bullying and homophobic when directed at young male gardaí. I have travelled around the world and been in difficult circumstances on different occasions. I was brought up in the centre of Dublin in a very ordinary working class community. I am no stranger to people using robust language but I do not know what is in people's minds when they use the imagery in the language I heard. It is not healthy for young gardaí to have to take it.

If the Deputy is aware, as deputy leader of her party, of cases where she feels the gardaí may have reacted or behaved inappropriately, or other people are aware of it-----

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