Latest news with #PaulGogarty
BreakingNews.ie
8 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Consider fines for parents to crackdown on antisocial behaviour in youths, TD says
Fines for parents and curfews should be considered to crackdown on antisocial behaviour by young offenders, according to a Dublin TD. Paul Gogarty said he has received an 'overwhelming amount of queries' from adults in relation to attacks by young people. Advertisement These include sticks, stones, and water being thrown at people with buggies, and shoplifting. Deputy Gogarty believes there should be immediate consequences. Speaking on Newstalk, he said: "I've had an absolutely overwhelming amount of queries from adults in relation either to their children who have been attacked randomly in parks. "Sticks, stones, bricks being thrown at parents with buggies. A woman had three e-scooters pass her back again, throw water over her. "There have been shoplifting incidences in cafes where the bottles have been taken out and then thrown over the staff."
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Row breaks out at protest over Government plans to buy CityWest Hotel
A row erupted between TD Paul Gogarty, two councillors and protesters demonstrating outside the Dáil over Government plans to buy Citywest Hotel. The State is to buy the Citywest Hotel to be used as part of the country's immigration system, according to the Business Post. Advertisement Around two dozen protesters gathered outside Leinster House on Wednesday holding signs that read 'Public consultation, not secret conversation' and 'Save Citywest Hotel from being purchased by our Government'. Locals who protested raised concerns about losing a significant amenity in the area. Dublin city councillors Malachy Steenson and Gavin Pepper, who do not represent the electoral area Citywest is located in, were also seen at the protest. As Independent TD for Dublin Mid-West Paul Gogarty addressed the crowd by megaphone, a row broke out between protesters, Mr Gogarty, Mr Steenson and Mr Pepper. Advertisement Independent TD for Dublin Mid-West Paul Gogarty (left) speaks to protesters with Dublin councillor Malachy Steenson (right) as people demonstrate outside Leinster House (Brian Lawless/PA) Asked whether there was some confusion over how his comments had been taken, Mr Gogarty said 'maybe one or two people jumped the gun there'. 'But I felt it was important to say what I stand for first of all, which is respect towards everyone whether or not they are economic migrants abusing the asylum system, genuine people fleeing persecution or IT professionals coming to this country.' Bernie Cronin, from Clondalkin, said 200 people attended a meeting two weeks ago where concerns were raised about the Government plans to buy Citywest Hotel. Mr Cronin, who is a former member of Fine Gael and a current member of Independent Ireland, said it has been the area's 'greatest amenity' for 40 years. Advertisement People demonstrating outside Leinster House in Dublin over Government plans to buy Citywest Hotel (Brian Lawless/PA) 'If the Government buys it, it will never come back to the people of Saggart and the surrounding districts as the superb and magnificent luxury hotel that it has been for 40 years,' he said. He said locals have 'no concern' about its current use as an IPAS centre for housing asylum seekers. Mr Cronin said there have been concerns by the group that others could 'hijack what we are trying to do'. Asked about 'outside elements' at the protest, Mr Cronin said: 'They don't help us. They don't help us and I know that's a concern.' Advertisement 'It's not a question about race, it's about space,' Saggart resident Susan Murphy said. 'We don't have the space, we have two shops, one chemist, one post office, no Garda station. We cannot accommodate groups and groups of people. 'If the Government buys Citywest Hotel, they have free rein to do whatever they want with all the land there, which isn't fair on the residents here. Another local, Karen Tracey, said the village was already 'overwhelmed' and it was difficult to get a GP appointment or school place. Advertisement 'Within a five-minute walk within the hotel, there's about 8,000 new homes, not all of them have been occupied just yet and when they are occupied you can imagine how overwhelmed we'll be without this.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Councillors Gavin Pepper and Malachy Steenson shout down TD during protest against Citywest Hotel sale
Paul Gogarty, Independent TD for Dublin Mid-West, faced angry criticism from two Dublin City councillors during a protest against the planned State purchase of Citywest Hotel in Dublin. The protest took place outside Leinster House on Wednesday. Mr Gogarty had been addressing a group of protesters objecting to the prospective purchase of the hotel, which is being used to accommodate people seeking international protection. Speaking after the exchanges, Mr Gogarty said he supported the protesters' right to seek greater consultation from the Government about the purchase. He outlined that he had opened his remarks with a 'preamble', saying that he did not condone any form of racism or abuse. 'I wasn't allowed to finish my preamble,' he said. READ MORE Mr Gogarty was challenged by at least one protester, as well as by Independent councillors Malachy Steenson and Gavin Pepper. Mr Pepper told Mr Gogarty that he was 'a disgrace'. Mr Steenson angrily challenged the former Green Party TD, asking him: 'Who are you calling far right?' Speaking afterwards, Mr Gogarty said that the protesters were entitled to object to the proposed Government plans to purchase the Citywest campus. 'There never is proper consultation with communities,' he said. 'It's always telling people after the event what's happened.' Mr Pepper told reporters Mr Gogarty was 'putting people down and trying to call them racist and far right, as always. They don't want to hear what the communities have to say.' 'I'm supporting the people that want their hotel back, that's what we're out to support,' Mr Pepper said when it was put to him that he was not a representative for the local area. He is a councillor for the Ballymun-Finglas area. 'I think it's unfair for me to be called far right and an agitator. Do you know what I think it is? It's classism and it punches down on people that want to speak out.' He accused Mr Gogarty of bringing up race in his comments on Wednesday morning. Protester Bernie Cronin, a former Fine Gael member who has joined Independent Ireland, said the protest arose out of a public meeting held in recent weeks at the Green Isle Hotel at Newlands Cross, Dublin. That meeting, attended by about 200 people, was held in reaction to Government plans to buy the Citywest Hotel. Mr Cronin said demonstrators were not objecting against the IPAS centre currently in operation in the hotel, but to the plans for the Government to purchase it, which he believed meant it would never be returned to its original use. He said he was not a resident of Saggart but lived in Clondalkin, adding that he and other residents had gathered 4,000 signatures from local people opposed to the purchase of the hotel by the State. He said the protesters were 'non-political' and he had spoken to Mr Gogarty beforehand to encourage him to address the group. He said that organisers of the protest had been concerned about 'outside parties that would hijack what we're trying to do'. '[Mr Gogarty] stood up and then he launched into [how] he would have no truck if any organisation was in any way anti-immigrants, anti-refugees, anti-Citywest.' He said that Mr Gogarty was challenged by one resident for these remarks. 'That then brought outside people, non-residents who then jumped in, and then we had mayhem.' 'We had no idea that he was going to come out with that,' he said, adding that he felt Mr Gogarty had made a mistake with his comments. Asked what he felt about so-called 'outside elements', Mr Cronin said: 'They don't help us.' He said Michael Collins, the Independent Ireland TD who had earlier addressed the protest, spoke without being interrupted. Susan Murphy, who identified herself as a resident of Saggart, said it was 'not a question about race'. 'It's about space,' she said, adding that amenties and facilities in the area were already stretched. 'If the Government buys Citywest Hotel, they have a free reign to do whatever they want with all the land there, which isn't fair on the residents here. Those other people did not speak for us,' she said.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
'On-the-spot' measures urged over anti-social behaviour
'On-the-spot' measures to help tackle anti-social behaviour by youths are needed, the Dáil has heard. Independent TD Paul Gogarty said there must be consequences for young people who carry out low-level crimes such as assaults. Speaking during Leaders' Questions, he suggested that restrictions on social media to avoid the "Andrew Tate-ification" of young adolescents, curfews, the seizing of scooters and playstations, or fining parents as potential measures that could be implemented. "A lot of our young people are under threat from random, violent assaults just by gangs going around, 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds. "I had parents come to me with a lad who got a punch and a damaged eye socket just from getting a punch. "It's abuse given to anyone. This is happening everyday, I'm not talking about the stuff that requires four mountain bike gardaí from operation Irene in an estate in my constituency where fires are lit regularly, drug dealing takes place and someone got attacked with a machete recently - that's high level stuff that needs to be dealt with, true enough. "But it's the low-level stuff that puts people in peril walking around and many times its young people who are randomly attacked." Mr Gogarty said there was an absence in addressing these lower-level crimes carried out by those under the age of 18. The Taoiseach said increased anti-social behaviour was a "real issue" and that the source and evolution consistently has to be dealt with. Micheál Martin said he believed schools deal with this well and are well ahead. He told the Chamber there were some consequences already such as anti-social behaviour orders, the rollout of bodycams to gardaí and the expansion of youth reach programmes. However, he said there is an absence of consequence for some low-level crimes, which is sometimes due to trying to give children a chance, and said he would raise the issue with the Minister for Justice.
