DUBLIN’S DEPUTY LORD Mayor is due in court later this morning after being arrested while protesting at the Greyhound lockout last year.
Independent councillor Cieran Perry is facing two public order charges, for which he could face either a fine of €2,000 or six months in prison.
The protest was against the imposition of pay cuts on Greyhound workers and the use of temporary staff while workers were on strike.
“I was shocked to be arrested and handcuffed for participating in a peaceful local protest in support of the locked-out Greyhound workers,” Perry, also a Unite shop steward, said of the incident on 2 September 2014.
I was particularly incensed that I was arrested under the Public Order Act given that we were engaged in an industrial relations protest.
He accused gardaí of having sufficient resources when asked to “act politically” but not when anti-social behaviour and drug dealing needs to be tackled.
Perry also questioned the timing of his court appearance, as it coincides with other politicians and members of the public receiving summons over their roles in water protests.
The 14-week lockout at Greyhound ended in late September last year after Siptu workers with the waste disposal company agreed a redundancy package of two weeks pay plus statutory entitlements of two weeks per year of service for the workers who have decided to leave the company.
Comments are closed due to active legal proceedings.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say