TD ‘undeterred’ after attack on her office
INDEPENDENT TD Carol Nolan’s constituency office was vandalised this week, with the window on the front door smashed in. Ms Nolan shared pictures of the damage inflicted at her office in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, on Facebook, but said nothing had been stolen. In a statement posted online yesterday, Ms Nolan, a former Sinn Féin TD, said: ‘Thanks so much to everyone who sent messages after [Monday’s] incident at my Tullamore office where the glass in the front door was smashed. Thanks also to the constituent who reported the incident early [on Monday] morning and to the Gardaí who came out to investigate. I will continue to represent the people of Offaly and Laois undeterred!’
She said that on Monday, ‘we kept our office open and worked away as usual after the glass was swept up and the office was made safe to the public’.
Ms Nolan added: ‘Thanks so much to local business Tullamore PVC and their staff who were out quickly to help resolve the problem. Onwards and upwards.’
Last year, TDs got a briefing from gardaí to ensure they were safe while carrying out their duties. There is now a special fund for politicians who have specific safety concerns. TDs and senators were advised, when using public transport, to check timetables before leaving, keep their valuables secure, check timetables before leaving, and sit close to the driver and not in any empty carriages.
‘Have enough money for a taxi in an emergency,’ they were told.
The advice came after Fianna Fáil minister Anne Rabbitte and Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon had two bags of cow manure thrown at them at a public meeting earlier in the year. Prior to this, in 2019, Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny’s car was burned after he spoke in support of accommodating asylum seekers in Co. Leitrim.
And in September 2020, a smoothie was thrown over Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin, which was subsequently investigated by gardaí.