Opposition TDs have criticised the Justice Minister, labelling him “Rambo” over his comments during last week’s fuel protests, reports Breaking News.
On Thursday, Jim O’Callaghan said the Defence Forces would support An Garda Síochána in removing vehicles involved in blockades, reports Breaking News.
In a statement, he said: “The blocking of critical national infrastructure will not be permitted to continue, and the assistance of the Defence Forces has been requested.”
Speaking during a confidence motion in the Dáil, Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said: “When calm leadership was required, we got chaos, reports Breaking News.
“Instead of pursuing a strategy of de-escalation, ministers decided to fan the flames.
“GI Jim O’Callaghan arrived on the scene thinking that he was Rambo,”
Speaking in Irish, he asked: “Where is he now?”, reports Breaking News.
Sylvester Stallone portrayed John J Rambo, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, across five action films.
Mr O’Callaghan said: “The last thing that the country needed was that approach, reports Breaking News.
“Thankfully, a very effective, professional police response brought the country back from the brink,”
Speaking to reporters at Leinster House earlier on Tuesday, Labour’s Ged Nash also referred to Mr O’Callaghan as Rambo, saying there had been “disputes” between him and Minister for Defence Helen McEntee, and adding he is a “guy that’s really hard to take seriously at the moment”, reports Breaking News.
He said: “This is why I said the authority is drained from this Government. When you start questioning legitimately, individual, collective competence of governments, legitimately so, then we have a real problem,”
Also speaking outside Leinster House was Social Democrats TD Garry Gannon.
He said: “When people were seeking resolution, guidance of voice and calm heads, Minister O’Callaghan was seeking to get in front of the Morning Ireland news bulletins by announcing that the army would be on the street. What that led to was an entrenchment in the positions, more people were called to the protest. More lorries and tractors arrived because resolve kicked in, and that was a failure of Mr O’Callaghan. His comments last week escalated the protest to beyond any measure that I’ve seen previously,” reports Breaking News.
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