Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Senator O'Toole raised last night's incident. I was not there but there is something that should be explained. The Cathoirleach will recall that about two years ago some of the Dublin taxi drivers took great exception to a Government decision. They camped outside this House for about three days in an intimidating fashion. They also camped outside Dublin Airport for the same length of time and forced everybody to carry their baggage about 200 yards beyond the roundabout. There was no intervention by anybody. Protesters should not block the exit from Leinster House but the response seemed to be urgent, immediate and over the top. I doubt that we needed riot police outside Leinster House last night. I did not feel threatened.