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That was NOT a peaceful protest --- Burton

The Tánaiste was trapped in her car for hours while protesters banged on its roof chanting “peaceful protest”.

Updated at 12.13pm

TÁNAISTE JOAN BURTON has said the protest group that trapped her in her car for hours in Jobstown yesterday was infiltrated by a people from “outside the community”. She also rejected claims from organisers that the action was a peaceful one.

The Labour leader was stuck inside her car for almost three hours yesterday afternoon as angry protesters banged on her vehicle’s roof.

Burton and other senior Government figures have condemned the action as undemocratic.

While Paul Murphy, the newly-elected Anti Austerity Alliance TD, has also come in for criticism from the Tánaiste for his part in the protest.

The former MEP was one of the organisers of the action, and insisted afterwards that it had been peaceful.

However, gardaí confirmed there had been two arrests — one for a public order offence and another for damage to a patrol car.

“They were rocking the car, banging on the windows on the doors and the roof,” Burton told RTÉ’s Marian Finucane this morning.

“And, you know — Paul Murphy is a TD. He was standing at the back with a loudhailer leading the chanting.

But I can say — if that’s his idea of a peaceful protest I would not like to see that norm being set for Ireland by him as the way people in Ireland protest.

The Labour leader’s car was surrounded by demonstrators in the Dublin suburb at around 1pm yesterday, as she attempted to leave a graduation ceremony at An Cosán — a higher education college.

Dozens of gardaí attended the scene, as did the Public Order Unit.

Burton was eventually escorted to safety after protesters allowed her to leave — and she was transported to a waiting garda car, which sped from the scene, shortly before 4pm.

Fight TheWaterTax / YouTube

‘Undemocratic’

Speaking to RTÉ News last night, Communications Minister Alex White also condemned the protesters’ actions.

While Independent Senator Katherine Zappone, who is a founder of the Cósan centre and was at the scene yesterday, said the ‘menacing’ nature of the demonstrations was unacceptable.

“The actions of some of the protestors generated an air of intimidation and menace which turned what should have been a local community celebration into a major security operation, with the Garda Public Order Unit on the ground and a helicopter overhead,” Zappone said in a statement.

“The blockading and banging of posters on the Tánaiste’s car, the jostling and spitting at those involved in the event goes beyond any legitimate form of protest.

“Those behind such actions do not represent the thousands of us who took to the streets of Tallaght just two weeks ago to air our legitimate grievances over Irish Water.

“As someone who witnessed much of what unfolded [...] I have no hesitation in saying that what occurred went beyond legitimate peaceful protest.”

Burton also said the protest took away from students’ experience.

“They were entitled to celebrate their achievement, their community’s achievement,” the Tánaiste said.

Regarding those who took part in the action she said “I think there were a lot of people from outside the community there”.

Labour and Fine Gael figures have also been weighing in with their criticism of what happened, on Twitter.

Read: Joan Burton trapped in her car for hours by anti-water protesters

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331 Comments
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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:30 AM

    The irony is that we had a tram system in Cork just like Dublin years ago but both systems were ripped up to make way for cars. Now we can look at the old lines that have either fallen into disregard or turned into walkways from our cars stuck in a traffic jam.

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    Mute Mr Snuffleupagus
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:49 AM

    @Brian Ward: And a very good system it was. We could also do with more small car ferries as the Cobh to Passage West one has been a real success. I think it would open up parts of East Cork that are just too far out to commute to the city otherwise, to housebuyers and help relieve pressure on first time buyers and renters.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:19 AM

    @Brian Ward:

    Indeed, isn’t there still a visible rail line that goes all the way down to the Point in Dublin along the quays. They didn’t even bother removing it when cars were all the rage. Yet how many hundreds of millions did they spend extending the luas down to the Point.

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    Mute Mark Hosford
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:41 PM

    The cork tram system was ripped up in the 30s largely for economic reasons … Dublin was more vanity …

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:13 AM

    The population argument is really the wrong way around. Population density follows public transport infrastructure. It’s not that you should have density before you get the transport.

    Something to consider. In the 1970s, the density in Cork and Dublin was very similar. Since then, Dublin’s has increased, while Cork’s has decreased. Why? Because Dublin has seen investment in quality public transport (DART, Luas), while Cork has been forced to rely on the car, which means stretched out suburbs. Just look at what has been built along the Luas lines and you’ll see this effect.

    If we try to increase density without having the public transport in place first, we’ll just get people who are car dependent and won’t change, and we’ll encourage congestion, plus a belief that giving up the road space will make the congestion worse.

    The public transport needs to come first.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:20 AM

    But surely you cannot justify spending billions on a light rail system for a city population of 120,000 while you then wait for the workers to arrive. Where’s the demand? That’s Jackie Healy Rae logic.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:20 AM

    @Chris Mansfield:

    You are absolutely correct, yet all Irish planners and politicians think in exactly the opposite way. They think public transport should be “provided” to where people are already living.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:22 AM

    Of course it’s supply and demand. Do something different and you end up in a Bus Eireann situation.

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    Mute Emeralds
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:27 AM

    Billions?

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:47 AM

    540,000 actually Sean.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:56 AM

    @Sean @114:

    Sean bus lines should be provided for where people are already living. Rail lines however should be put in place in advance of development. It becomes much easier to get planning permission if there’s a rail link, so it’s a case of build it and they will come.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:49 AM

    And you believe that 540K. The new children’s hospital was going to cost €260m initially. Now it’s over a billion!!!! Treble whatever figure is thrown out there.

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    Mute Ashling Fenton
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    Mar 4th 2017, 12:10 PM

    There still needs to be a minimum density to ensure revenue .

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:47 PM

    Chris you say in the 1970s the density of Dublin and Cork was similar and based on this premise build an entire argument for light rail in Cork. on that. The problem is that your premise is untrue. Dublin has always had a far larger population than Cork city. If you think that the only reason Dublin has grown faster than Cork is public transport then you haven’t been to Dublin and don’t know the economics of cities. Dublin is a capital city. Cork is a small city. It has neither the population or the density for light rail. Other solutions will have to be found.

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    Mute Talleyrand Frye
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    Mar 4th 2017, 4:20 PM

    @John R: Population size and population density are not the same thing. Ireland has a larger population than San Marino, but San Marino has greater population density than Ireland.

    I am not saying Chris is right or wrong – but you at least need to understand exactly what he is saying before you can critique his points.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 5:51 PM

    Sean…wake up. 540,000 is the population of Cork…not the 120,000 you stated.

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:30 PM

    Metrland.

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    Mute Conchuir
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    Mar 5th 2017, 9:04 AM

    Yeah Tony that’s the entire county not the city

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 5th 2017, 12:47 PM

    Talleyrand you’re correct but it’s irrelevant in this case. You can have population density but lack the size of population necessary to make rail a realistic population. Dublin has that population but barely the scale as the city it too spread out. Cork city has neither the population nor the scale. Politicians make many promises most based on populism. Light rail is very expensive both to build and to run. The construction requires a massive state subvention. The operational costs in the case of the Dublin Luas are met by the users. In the case of Cork it is likely that the user base would be far less for any given line. Hence an operational subsidy would be needed.

    The argument that just because Dublin has it Cork should as well is just the politics of envy not reason.

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    Mute Donal Martin
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:24 AM

    Nobody cares about outside Dublin, that’s what

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:32 AM

    Exactly Donal, whatever happened to the “Dart to Dingle”?

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    Mute Alan Scott
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:27 AM

    A lot of the streets are very narrow but we love the Cork people

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:53 AM

    @Alan. For the most part a LUAS type system would service the suburbs..the wider streets such as Patrick Street, South Mall, Grand Parade and Parnell Place would be well able to accommodate it. Given that Cork has such a high density of FDI with the pharmaceutical industry in particular, this would benefit the movement of people hugely from places like Ring as kiddy and Little Island the latter which suffers from enormous traffic congestion, so much so businesses there are staggering their staffs finishing times to allow them get home at a reasonable hour. It makes nothing but good sense to have a system like this here albeit on a smaller scale that Dublin. Ohhhhh…and we love ye too.

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    Mute Don O Sullivan
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:32 AM

    I remember rail tracks in the 70s and early 80s that ran from Kent Station up towards City Hall over Brian Boru Bridge.These were used a lot by freight trains transporting grain and fertiliser at the time to and from the docks.Its such a shame that they were covered over and were not extended to other parts of the city and parts of the county.In actual fact a rail system ran from Skibereen right in towards Waterfall also which was allowed go ruin and never preserved.Its such a shame.I’d prefer the thoughts of having a tram type system that operates in our twinned city San Francisco.

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    Mute prop joe
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:33 AM

    There are old railway lines that can be used but critical junctions have been sold off in Cork city. An East West line would make sense joining the courthouse , ucc bons hospital, cuh , model road industrial park, cit. But this will never happen. So it’s the bus or cycle if you don’t want to drive.

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    Mute Adrian
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:35 AM

    So in summary. The politicians bankrupt the country and population didn’t seem to be the problem before the economic crash but it’s the excuse now because they can’t afford it now basically.

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    Mute Stephen Devlin
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:42 AM

    But certain amenities like wage rises and water meters there is plenty money for

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    Mute rockmast
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:53 AM

    A small monorail would probably work better in Cork than a luas tram line. A lot of the cost of building the luas was buying land off people along the line. A stoneworks in Dundrum got around 5 million while an acre at the edge of Sandyford cost 12 million. Put it up in the air on stilts.

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    Mute Eugene Conroy
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:07 AM

    Should read “What happened to Cork”

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    Mute phil o c
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:01 AM

    What do you mean by that Eugene?

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    Mute David
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:59 AM

    Well the it’s the Peoples Republic of Cork so pay for it yourselves lol

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:09 PM

    @David: Cork accounts for one third of the total economic output of the country so we could well afford it …

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 5th 2017, 1:00 PM

    David “Cork accounts for one third if the total economic output of the country”! Seriously? So Cork city and county with a population of 529,000 people out of a national population of 4.7 million people accounts for 33% of economic output even though it has only 11% of the population. Seriously amazing. I am in awe. Poor Dublin with a population of 1.35 million only accounts for another 42% of GDP. So based on your estimate Dublin and Cork and accounts for 77% of the entire economic output of the Republic despite having less than half the population. Moreover Cork is incomparably wealthier than Dublin.

    I suggest that your statement about Cork economic output is wrong. Very wrong.

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:08 PM

    The LUTS plan for Cork going back to the late 70s had a light rail system in the project but never was acted on due to the cost , a smaller city like Cork can benefit from these types of transport platforms better than already built up cities like Dublin as it helps the city grow and you can add to them as the city grows they also help with economic advancement , why wait until it has to be justified , justify it on the basis of helping the city grow and then it will pay for its self down the line ..

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    Mute HoneyBadger617
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:29 AM

    It got lost on its way down and now it’s the Dublin cross city link. See it’s simple when you know the truth.

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    Mute Kieran Mcnamee
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:23 AM

    Why ?

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    Mute mcgoo
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:53 PM

    Taking Dublins system as an example, A green line would run through the leafy suburbs of ballintemple and Douglas. A red line would take in ballyvolane and knocknaheeny.

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    Mute David
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:58 AM

    It’s Cork lol

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:10 PM

    @David: Aw another person with an attitude about Cork when projects are talked about the biggest county in the country
    and a population of 500,000 thousand people ..

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:28 PM

    Don’t even think about a luas for cork. AAA Wally would recommend a starting salary of half a million P.a. for tram drivers.

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