Gardaí called to Roderic O'Gorman's home after masked men stage ...
Gardaí were called to the home of Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman on Thursday night when a gang of up to 12 masked men gathered outside his house and huge placards and banners were stretched across his driveway gate, along his wall and fastened to outside polls.
Experts have expressed concern at the increasing harassment and intimidation of public representatives and fear that the threats could escalate, particularly with the European and local elections approaching in June.
Videos of the incident were circulated online and show up to 12 masked men gathered outside the home of Mr O’Gorman in west Dublin.
A large banner was tied across the electronic driveway gate, stating ‘Minister O’Gorman Hates Children’ and three other small banners are attached to railings on his front wall.
Three similar banners were placed against the outside of his wall and a giant banner, saying ‘South Dublin Says No, Close the Borders’ is fastened to polls on the footpath.
The video shows two marked Garda cars near the scene.
In a statement, Garda HQ said: “Gardaí in Blanchardstown were notified shortly after 8pm following reports of a public gathering involving a small group of individuals outside a private residence in the Blanchardstown area yesterday evening, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
“A Garda presence was maintained at the scene until the group dispersed a short time later. No arrests were made.”
It added: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on the security arrangements of any individual or group. Matters of security, including those that pertain to the safety, security, and welfare of public representatives, remain under continuous review.”
Queries to Mr O’Gorman’s office were directed to An Garda Síochána.
A banner that was hung outside Roderic O'Gorman's house in Dublin on Thursday night.On Friday, the Taoiseach said it is "extraordinarily chilling and disturbing and quite frankly, disgusting" that masked protesters gathered outside Mr O’Gorman’s home.
Simon Harris said he felt “deeply uncomfortable” that protesters were able to gather outside the Dublin West TD’s house and that he hoped to speak to gardaí on the matter "in due course".
Mr Harris said that he had spoken with Mr O’Gorman about the situation.
“[I was] utterly horrified to see the situation. We all recognise the right to protest in a democracy, but when you see masked people gathering outside somebody’s family home, I think that’s extraordinarily chilling and disturbing and quite frankly, disgusting,” Mr Harris said.
“I know that the gardai have to assess each of these situations. I don’t wish to interfere in that. However, I feel deeply uncomfortable that this situation was allowed to develop outside the home of any person, quite frankly, public figure or otherwise. Government or opposition.”
Mr Harris defended the Garda response to far-right protests, saying that he is “reluctant” to immediately blame the police force.
“The Gardaí operate in very difficult and challenging environments and the Gardaí responds to dynamic situations in real-time,” Mr Harris said.
He said gardaí take these matters “very seriously”, adding that there are clear laws on the statute books around what people can and cannot do at protests.
“I’m conscious that gardaí may wish to look into matters that happened yesterday so I don’t want to over-comment on one specific situation.”
Mr Harris said that he was “worried” about an increase of people gathering outside the homes of elected politicians, saying that it has a “chilling effect” on democracy.
“Of course, we see a coarseness in political debate and discourse, but there’s an appropriate way to debate and raise issues,” Mr Harris said, adding that protests should be held outside the Dáil or at constituency offices.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said Mr O'Gorman's "privacy and property have been violated in a disgusting and shocking manner".
"I’ve spoken to the Garda commissioner. This cannot be tolerated," she said.
Call for gardaí 'to step in decisively'
Maynooth University Professor of European Politics John O'Brennan said: “I think what we say yesterday was just the latest example of efforts to intimidate and harass serving politicians.” He cited a video that circulated online showing an individual subjecting Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin to prolonged verbal abuse and harassment on the street.
“The difference here is that this ‘protest’ took place at the house of a minister,” Prof O'Brennan said.
“We have seen an incremental rise in the number of such provocations in recent years.” He said it was time for the gardaí “to step in decisively” and deal with these acts of harassment and claimed the guards had enough power to do so.
Garda HQ has repeatedly said they adopt a "graduated approach" to policing protests and are conscious of not giving conspiratorial and far-right groups propaganda of video recording gardaí arresting them for standing on the street.
Some Garda sources also point out they can not prove the group gathered had put up the banners.
Maynooth University assistant professor in criminology John Morrison - an expert on radicalisation and terrorism - said the behaviour was worrying, but not surprising.
“The aim of these actors is to promote conspiracy theories in order to deteriorate trust in public figures such as O'Gorman while simultaneously aiming to deter those with similar views to him from entering public life,” he said.
“As we have seen across the past year there is potential for this form of behaviour to escalate, with the arson attacks which for a while became a near permanent fixture on our news bulletins.” “These groups aim to spread conspiracy theory tropes about individuals, as well as wider communities. This is designed to bring about fear, distrust, and anger amongst those who listen to them.
“With the upcoming euro and local elections I suspect there will be many more such incidents as they will see it as an opportunity to influence the debate and narrative."
