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

I wonder whether there will be any policy development in relation to the role of gardaí at evictions. There was a huge controversy over the art of Spicebag and his perfectly reasonable depiction of an eviction, over which members of the political and media establishment lost all sense of reason in generating their own outrage about it. Incidentally, Spicebag will be coming to the rally of Tathony House residents, people who are facing eviction, this Saturday at 3 p.m.

Deputy Smith referred to the video that has gone viral of Dr. Raheel being threatened with eviction by a landlord wielding a circular saw against the door of the home, and then against Dr. Raheel himself. Again, this highlights the issue. It seems to me that there are two potential criminal issues here. One is the assault in using a saw against a person. The second is - and I will check whether the Taoiseach agrees - that even if the gardaí say they do not have a role in evictions, where an illegal eviction is taking place, the gardaí have a role. Is that not the case? If it is not the case, then we need to have policy development around this. Illegal evictions are a criminal matter, however, and gardaí should intervene.

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