Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government needs to review what security is required to protect Irish politicians following protests at TDs' homes in light of the killing of MP David Amess.
Mr Martin said “on the physical security, we have to keep an eye on [that].”
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protesters have targeted Tanáiste Leo Varadkar’s home recently which resulted in gardaí being called to his home.
Mr Martin said people have shown up at his Cork home throughout the years and people have “roared and screamed” into his face.
When asked if security needs to be tightened for Irish politicians following the recent fatal stabbing of British politician David Amess and reports of female TDs having men show up to their homes, Mr Martin told the Irish Mirror it’s “challenging” and there is a need to protect the interaction with people on the ground.
He said: “First of all, I think we do need to review it, in terms of what security is required.
“I think intelligence, networking, what I mean by that is people keeping a very sharp eye on it.
“And gardai are well placed to do that and have an idea of what's happening in different extreme groups and people who were harassing...I don't think, for example, people should turn up to someone's home, we've all experienced that and over many protests.”
Mr Martin then revealed people have shown up to his own home but said he has “never made a big deal” about it.
He said: “I’ve been at it [politics] a long, long time.
“I’ve been in different Ministries and so on and one tries to deal with it but what I would say is, we need to protect that ingredient in Irish politics, that connection between people.
“And sometimes I think some extreme political groups want to disrupt that connection. That's part of the agenda. I always make a point of walking my streets.
“There were times in my political life when I would have been people would have encircled me and would have roared and screamed at me and so on and phones up to your face and all the rest of it.
“I would keep going because I think it’s absolutely essential that we don’t lose the ground and don't lose the street as elected representatives.”
Mr Martin said “no one wants an intrusive or over the top security presence around politicians.”
He added: “We depend on Ireland, not depend but it's part of our ecosystem and politics to have clinics, to have that interaction with people on the ground, which is a very positive feature of Irish politics and we have to protect that.”
He said “there are difficulties” with “online hate” and said there are “groups forming who create bile [towards] politicians and target politicians.”
Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Mr Martin said: “I think anybody who wants to disrupt that and there's an agenda there sometimes to disrupt that, in that sort of practice to almost denormalize conventional politicians, and to turn people against them, and that in itself then can generate a more violent interaction with politicians which has to be condemned and people need to pull back from that.
“But I think it's through the intelligence network and the capacity of our Garda Siochana that’s the ultimate protection that we can give to politicians, to spot things before they become challenging and difficult.
“I think we need to be careful to keep it.
"That is not in any way to dissuade anyone from legitimate protest, and of freedom of expression, that’s the life and blood of our democracy as well.”
