Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. Unfortunately, I was held up in the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs and did not get to move my amendments. It is fine, though, because I think it is clear there is going to be additional scrutiny in the Joint Committee on Justice and an opportunity to tease out the issues there. I wish to signal, however, that I think these issues are not simply to do with balancing the question of the right to protest with other aspects. There are also concerns regarding who and what is included in the legislation.

I refer to the fact that the reference to a permanent building means some of the most vulnerable people will not be included. I am thinking. in particular. of Travellers, who experienced intimidation in their residences throughout the State for decades, and, indeed, the most vulnerable people we see now, namely, migrants and refugees in tented accommodation, who are actually excluded from protections under this Bill. Clarity is needed around the issue of the protections for the occupants of a building versus the residents because these may not be the same. The core point here, and this is one of the other issues I hope will be addressed in the joint committee, is that if people are protesting an illegal eviction, for example, the owners of buildings would not simply be able to say the law applied only to them; what matters here are the occupants. Focusing clearly, therefore, on the occupants, or the believed occupants, of buildings is important.

There is also a danger, and I am sure it is inadvertent, that canvassing could be outlawed.