Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

This week, a large number of Deputies in the Chamber decried efforts made by some British politicians to stop protests in Britain against the horrific war in Gaza.

Many of those speakers rightly said that in no circumstance should the democratic right to protest be prevented and that protest was the foundation stone of a democracy. I, as an Irish republican, will always point to the North of Ireland when protests were banned and the outcomes that created in the political situation there. While I do not agree with or support many of the protests happening outside certain hospitals, etc., I always support the right to protest, even if I do not agree with it. In the same way, I always support the right of freedom of speech even if I do not agree with it. It is more important to support those fundamental democratic rights when you do not agree with it. Supporting those rights only when they are in sympathy with your views is not what democracy is about.

When the Garda Commissioner was asked about what legislation was necessary for providing safe zones, he said the legislation as it existed was satisfactory and sufficient. I listened in this Chamber to many Deputies about reports of protests outside certain hospitals that, when investigated, were proven not to be true. I heard Deputies from the Government talking about protests outside some GP locations on certain days when they were happening on Saturdays. I always urge protests to be respectful and decent. My worry is that the foundation stone of a democracy, the right to protest, will be deleted in certain areas by the Bill. Given the location of some of the providers of abortion, it will mean significant parts of our city as well. In some places, there might be the right to protest for abortion but not against. In some cases, a mother might be able to say to her daughter that she should be able to proceed with an abortion in a café in the curtilage of one of these providers but not be able to give advice against it. There is a situation in which 85% of abortions in this State currently are as a result of the socioeconomic situation many people are in. I know of one woman who felt she did not have the economic ability to have her child. When she was on the way to have an abortion in Britain, she met a charity which offered her financial support so she could proceed to have her child. She had her child, raised her daughter and now, because of that intervention, is involved in trying to provide economic supports to women as they enter abortion clinics in England. There is also a dystopian situation happening in Britain. I do not know if the Minister saw it. Individuals are being arrested by police there for silent prayer outside abortion clinics. Police officers are asking individuals what they are thinking and praying about, and if it is in the two areas that fit under that legislation, they are arrested. There is something very Orwellian about a society that asks citizens in a public space what they are thinking and praying about regarding these issues.

This is an enormously difficult situation, there is no doubt. I know many people disagree with my views on this and I know they come from the position of human and civil rights. Any measure of a democracy is how it tolerates different views or those different from establishment views. I am concerned this Bill starts to eliminate spaces where people can respectfully and peacefully protest about these issues. The idea that we have a society that is looking in numerous places to get rid of public protest is very dangerous.

The other element about which I am fearful concerning this particular amendment is that there is a situation in which people are looking for older people who might be standing silently outside of abortion providers to be put in jail, and you put that beside the idea that there is an enormous spike in crime and antisocial behaviour, a phenomenal increase in unprovoked vicious attacks and a doubling of rapes, sexual assault and murder. The Garda force is phenomenally limited in its resources. Every year, for the last five, the number of gardaí has fallen and recruitment and morale are falling. Yet, the political establishment is looking for ideological reasons to push that resource to get rid of the right to freedom of protest.

See this speech in context