Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I apologise as I did not realise this matter was down as coming first in the order. The last time I looked, it was third in the order.

I first express my sympathy and solidarity with Izzy, the activist who was beaten on the head outside Leinster House on Saturday. People have seen the horrific pictures of blood streaming down her face. She was hospitalised and had to receive stitches. Izzy is not only an outstanding anti-oppression activist and one of the founders and a former chief steward of Pride but she also personally stood with the Jobstown defendants and supported the Jobstown Not Guilty campaign in defending the right to protest. I was personally and politically appalled seeing what happened to Izzy.

In a way the nature of the attack on her says something about how those at the core of these protests organised by the far right operate. She was beaten on the head with a bar wrapped in an Irish flag. The violence and hatred of these groups is wrapped in fake patriotism. They are consciously taking up matters that they believe they can bring to a broader section of people - it is masks currently - in order to try to develop far right and fascist politics in this State.

The majority of people who went on those protests on Saturday are not consciously far right, fascist or anything like that. These are people who have real concerns. They are frustrated by the Government advice around Covid-19 and they do not agree on the use of face masks or social distancing. I disagree with such people on those matters, although I agree with their frustration arising from the Government's incoherence. That incoherence comes because public health is not consistently placed first and instead the interests of private profit stands in the way. This happens most clearly in the case of meat plants.

I disagree with these people and their argument for not wearing masks if they are medically able to do so. I disagree with their argument that people do not need to socially distance. We must do all this as part of a collective effort that is not about individual responsibility but rather society as a whole looking to do what it can to protect the vulnerable, including older people, and stop Covid-19.

The Government has the most important job and should shut meat plants when that is required or send people home from school when necessary. It should carry out at least 100,000 tests and tracing processes per week.

Even if I do not convince these protestors on matters like masks and social distancing, I still appeal to them not to be used by the far right, as that is what is happening. They are taking advantage of people's fear in order to recruit. They should look at who is at the core of these protests.

There were two protests with the far right at their core on Saturday. One had Síol na hÉireann at its centre. It is not a registered party or lobby group and it is technically a private and for-profit company. The leader is a man named Niall McConnell, a Catholic nationalist who is anti-choice. He said at a demonstration that we "should not tolerate LGBTQ+ people". He is a close friend of Britain First founder and loyalist, Jim Dowson, and he has links with the British National Party former leader, Nick Griffin, and other far right people across Europe.

The group at the centre of the other protest at Leinster House was the National Party, led by Justin Barrett of Youth Defence notoriety. He is horrifically anti-woman and anti-abortion, as well as anti-same sex marriage. He also has open relations with extreme fascist and far right groups across Europe and has spoken at openly Nazi rallies in Germany.

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