Now protest mob target the home of Minister Donohoe
PASCHAL Donohoe was yesterday forced to leave a Government policy launch early as protesters gathered outside his family home.
The so-called Fingal Battalion Direct Action Group arrived outside the Finance Minister’s home in Drumcondra, north Dublin, yesterday afternoon as part of its ‘Bring It To Their Doors’ campaign.
The group has previously picketed the homes of politicians including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Minister Donohoe had been attending the launch of the Future Jobs Ireland strategy in Dublin yesterday but was quickly escorted from the building by officials to allow him speak to gardaí. It is not known if Mr Donohoe’s wife or children were home at the time.
After his departure, Business Minister Heather Humphreys condemned the actions of those responsible.
She said: ‘I agree with people’s right to protest but I don’t think it’s right to protest At event: Paschal Donohoe outside people’s private houses. This is something that people have done in the past and we all condemn it.’
On Facebook yesterday the organisers of the protest accused Minister Donohoe of having ‘failed’ in his brief, highlighting the overspend at the National Children’s Hospital.
They wrote: ‘Today we’re outside the home of failed finance minister Paschal Donohoe. Paschal has taking the blame for his incompetent friend Simon [Harris] for the overspending in the children’s hospital, as Paschal has set his sights further afield as he’s no plans to run in the next election. Paschal also see [sic] the 1.25 billion profit by AIB as a standard tax we all know this to be bulls***. #BringItToTheirDoors.’
The same campaign has twice targeted the Taoiseach’s home.
Protests have also been staged by the group outside the family homes of Health Minister Simon Harris and Communications Minister Richard Bruton. Mr Harris, who was at home with his wife and newborn baby at time of one protest, described the incident as ‘very frightening’ and accused the activists of trying to ‘intimidate’ his family. The demonstration was condemned at the time by Tánaiste Simon Coveney.
‘This is the politics of intimidation and not democracy. No minister, particularly not a minister with a young family, should be targeted in that way,’ he said. ‘I am delighted that people from all political spectrums have been very critical, as they should be.’
He added: ‘In some ways I think the less said about this the better because it only encourages people. I don’t think that it is acceptable that a young woman with a newborn baby should be targeted, which is what happened here.
‘Hardly a brave thing to do – to be intimidating people outside their own homes without even knowing, by the way, that the minister was there.’
He added: ‘I have some experience of that with my own family as well: a number of years ago when it was water charges... people were protesting against.’
Mr Donohoe’s house was previously targeted by protesters in 2015 when former aviation workers disputed changes to the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme pension fund while he was minister for transport.
Gardaí yesterday confirmed they had attended the scene of a protest at a house in Drumcondra. ‘Protesters have left the scene peacefully and enquiries will be carried out,’ a spokesman said.
‘Hardly a brave thing to do’
ONCE again the cohort who describe themselves as the Fingal Battalion Direct Action Group have embarrassed themselves and sullied their adopted name by targeting the private home of another Government politician.
Previously the group decided to make their point outside Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s home.
And in a well-publicised stunt, the mob stood outside the home of Health Minister Simon Harris, unfurling their banners as the minister’s wife and three-week-old child tried to enjoy their family time on a Sunday afternoon.
Writing in this paper about the protest at Minister Harris’s home, columnist Brenda Power said of the protesters: ‘They may claim to be left wing but, in reality, on the extremes where legitimate politics bleeds into anarchy and lawlessness, they are indistinguishable from the hard right, currently spreading unrest and civil chaos across Europe and beyond. They are dangerous, irresponsible, reckless and utterly self-serving.’
At the weekend it was Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s turn to suffer the wrath of this anarchy. The minister wasn’t at home though. He was attending the launch of a Future Jobs Ireland event. His absence, however, does not make the turn of events appropriate. And it is not as if it is only supporters of the Government who are against this intimidating form of protest.
Writing on social media about yesterday’s protest, Social Democrats county councillor Gary Gannon said: ‘This form of thuggery achieves nothing but to be a distraction from how we should actually hold legislators to account for their decisions.’
Mr Gannon is quite correct. It is right that politicians be held to account. But ordinary citizens cannot allow legitimate criticism of politicians and policies to morph into thuggery and intimidation.