Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In the last couple of hours, I have been informed by the four national representative taxi groups that the Garda has banned their planned protest, which was due to take place outside Leinster House tomorrow, on Merrion Street. This is a shocking development. There would be no threat to public health because the taxi drivers were going to be in their cars. That was clearly outlined to the Garda, yet the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, has banned the protest on public health grounds. Given that the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2021 is up for debate today and the acting Minister for Justice will be in the House, I request that she make a statement on whether this interpretation of the public health guidelines to ban a legitimate and safe protest by taxi drivers is in line with the Government's view of public health guidelines. She should also find out what on earth Drew Harris thought he was doing in using public health as an excuse to ban a legitimate protest by taxi drivers.

See this speech in context