Politicians campaigning in the general election race will not be curtailed as a result of concerns over personal safety, according to Taoiseach Simon Harris.
His remarks about the safety of politicians come after an assault on Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman while he was canvassing at the weekend.
During District Court proceedings on Monday Karl Ronan (45), with an address at Erris Square, Waterville, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr O’Gorman.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting Mr Harris has said he has “completely condemned” what happened to Mr O’Gorman.
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He said: “In this country, we value the fact that our politicians can knock on your door, that they can come up to you in the supermarket.
“My experience right across the country is people who vote for you and people who would never vote for you in a month of Sundays, they generally go about that engagement in a very decent way and I really hope that can be the way the campaign progresses in the days ahead.”
He noted the assault on Mr O’Gorman is before the courts but said “more broadly” the Garda take such matters “very seriously” and will be monitoring the situation “closely throughout the campaign”.
But the Fine Gael leader said: “We don’t want to see a situation in Ireland where campaigning becomes in any way curtailed and I don’t believe we will, by the way, as a result of this.
“We need people to be able to move safely around the country – people of all political persuasions and none – and engage. That’s what’s great about our political democracy.”
Separately, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he has been out canvassing and that people “are very courteous, people are engaging.
“We should not allow the activities of generally a very small number of people in any way impact on the conduct of the campaign itself.”
The Fianna Fáil leader also said the incident where Mr O’Gorman was assaulted is before the courts. “But more generally people are friendly, people are engaging, which is good and positive in terms of our democracy and I think that’s the prism through which I look at this.”
Meanwhile, Mr Harris said he intends to seek the dissolution of the Dáil this week. He said there was “important business” that needed to be done first including the passing of the Finance Bill, which underpins the tax measures announced in the Budget and other legislation.
“Once that’s out of the way I do intend to seek a dissolution of the Dáil this week. I don’t think that will come as a shock to any person right across this country,” he said. “That will provide a period of time in which we can have an election campaign and invite the people of Ireland to give their verdict on the next number of years”.
He said there would be time over the Christmas period for parties to engage on how to form a government. “I’m really looking forward to the weeks ahead. This is a great country. It can be even better and we now have significant resources at our disposal,” he added.
Mr Harris also noted he will attend meetings of European leaders in Hungary later this week. This trip will factor into when he decides to seek the dissolution of the Dáil.
He said the meetings will be an “important discussion on a range of issues including the Middle East, the safety of our troops in Lebanon, and obviously the outcome of the US presidential election.
“So we have to work through the choreography of all that.”
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