Conway-Walsh expresses concern over ‘absolute hatred’ outside Dáil

MAYO TD Rose Conway-Walsh has sought assurances that gardaí will deal appropriately with incidents of ‘absolute hatred’ in public spaces.

The Sinn Féin TD was referring to a crowd of over 200 which gathered outside the Dáil last week for a demonstration which resulted in 13 arrests.

Politicians were blocked from leaving Leinster House as a result of the unsavoury scenes, which included a mock gallows depicting effigies of various politicians.

Speaking at the Mayo Joint Policing Committee meeting on Friday, Deputy Conway-Walsh said such instances were ‘not confined just to the gates of Leinster House’ and asked how gardaí were going to to address such situations.

“I lived in London when the National Front were in operation. That was certainly not something that we need to be inactive about addressing here, and we need to address it as a matter of urgency. The gardaí cannot do that without having the resources,” she said.

Ray McMahon, Chief Superintendent for the Mayo, Roscommon and Longford policing division, said that gardaí had to ‘balance between not inflaming the situation but being in control of the situation’.

Chief Supt McMahon said there was training scheduled for October within the garda division to train gardaí to deal with these kinds of situations.

He also assured Deputy Conway-Walsh that gardaí would continue to ‘constantly monitor’ situations where violent protests could arise.