Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Malcolm Byrne on bringing forward the legislation. I also commend the Minister and her officials.

One of the concerns we all have is that now people are using the guise of protesting as part of our democratic structures. That is clearly something we all support, but this is not about peaceful protest. This is about intimidation and about undermining democracy itself. Democracy has to stop giving a platform to people and allowing them to intimidate public representatives and people who are working on behalf of and for the State and, ultimately, trying to force individuals out of public office or intimidate people into either making certain decisions or into not making other decisions that are in the best interests of all this country. In the context of this legislation, we need to protect democracy. Peaceful protest is something we all agree with. There are places to do that, but intimidating people's families, public representatives and officials who work on behalf of the State is something we cannot afford to tolerate because it undermines the institutions of our State.