ORGANISERS OF A protest outside the Dáil that was supported by the Yellow Vest Ireland movement have expressed disappointment about the turnout this afternoon.
The protest was titled ‘Not My Taoiseach!’ and a Facebook event advertising it said it was being organised specifically in response to “bad management and poor decisions” by Leo Varadkar.
“Leo Varadkar needs to know that the people of Ireland are repulsed by him. We did not vote him in and we have had enough,” the Facebook page stated.
The Yellow Vest Ireland Facebook page shared a number of posts about the event, which was scheduled to take place between 3pm and 6pm this afternoon.
The Dáil was returning today following the Christmas break.
There was a significant garda presence outside the entrance to Leinster House on Kildare Street and steel barriers were erected at the junction with Molesworth Street, cars and people were also blocked from moving up Kildare Street.
Steel barriers are occasionally erected at that location when large protest crowds are expected.
Despite the garda preparation as of 3.30pm this afternoon only a handful of protesters had assembled across from the Dáil.
Shortly after 4pm this afternoon, one of the organisers of the Facebook event posted a live video from the scene of the protest in which a number of protesters urged other supporters to join.
“We need all of the activists all over the country to get to the Dáil, we need to put a stop to this. Leo’s probably in there probably laughing his head off at what’s going on, it’s no longer a laughing matter,” one of the protesters said.
We need everyone in here now, this is an absolute disgrace and the gardaí have been very, very rude to members of the public when we’re just trying to find out why aren’t we allowed public access to our own streets. And we need to stop it, get your asses in here.
Another protester also complained about people voicing support for the movement online but not turning up to today’s event.
“Why are people sitting at home on their keyboards when you want Leo out? All you want to do is attack people on the Facebook. Keyboard warriors, we need warriors, feet on the street,” he said.
Get your ass in gear and get in here, because there’s no point in you putting out all that crap on Facebook if you’re not doing anything about it. Move your ass and get in here now!
Earlier today Glenn Miller, who founded the Yellow Vest Ireland Facebook page, handed in a “list of demands” to ushers at Government Buildings that he requested by given to Varadkar.
“So we’ve just handed in our list of demands from the Yellow Vest movement to the Taoiseach’s office here behind me. Best of luck with that, I hope he reads it, takes it seriously and we’ll see you all on Saturday,” Miller said in a separate live video.
Yellow Vest Ireland is hosting more protests at The Custom House in Dublin on the upcoming two Saturdays.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say