After presenting a bill that would criminalise protesting outside of people’s homes, a senator attacked “thugs” who engage in such activities, reports Breaking News.
Malcolm Byrne of Fianna Fáil introduced the Protection of Private Residences (Against Targeted Picketing) Bill 2021.
The next round of the legislative process is scheduled to take place before the Seanad on May 23. Following the week-long gathering of anti-immigration demonstrators outside Taoiseach Simon Harris’s home in County Wicklow, the bill will once again be in the public eye.
Mr Byrne told BreakingNews.ie: “I think a specific offence of targeted protesting outside any individual’s home needs to be introduced now. We’ve seen further sinister incidents by a very small minority. It just shows you that we need to deal with this problem,” reports Breaking News.
“To be very clear; it is completely unacceptable to engage in harassing behaviour outside the home of any individual. You’re not just targeting a particular individual, you’re impacting on their family, on their neighbours. In the case of the Taoiseach, he has a young family and, as he said himself, it was his kids’ bedtime,” reports Breaking News.
The Wexford senator added: “The thugs that were outside his house were not engaged in protest, they were engaged in intimidatory and harassing behaviour against a young mother and children. That is not acceptable,” reports Breaking News.
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