A junior minister says she was left fearing for her safety, after a bag of excrement was thrown at her last night.
Fianna Fáil’s Anne Rabbitte and Ciaran Cannon of Fine Gael were targeted yesterday during a public meeting of the Bio Gas Concern Group in Gort, Co Galway.
Bags of dung were thrown at the Galway East TDs, in what’s been described as an “outrageous and horrendous” act.
Attended a meeting tonight and a bag of sh.t thrown a me and my government colleague !!!
— Anne Rabbitte TD (@AnneRabbitte) January 4, 2023
The Galway East TDs were targeted by a protestor with two bags of dried defecation following a meeting in the south Galway town.
Deputy Cannon was rightly unimpressed as he labelled the protestor “an idiot” following the incident.
“All part of the job you might say, but I can understand why fewer people want this job,” Deputy Cannon wrote on Twitter. He also told Galway Bay FM ”Somebody went to the trouble of putting excrement into a bag….this was premeditated. They went to that meeting fully intending to do what they did.”
Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte says ‘politics has reached a new low‘.
She told Galway Bay FM the incident was upsetting: ”I actually wasn’t in a position to be able to speak to be honest with you. The legs were taken right out from under me as far as I was concerned. I actually had dry mouth. I wasn’t able to put words together at that point.”
TDs and councillors from across the country expressed their disgust via social media.
Sinn Féin TD Kathleen Funchion TD said that it was ‘so wrong’. Senator Gerard Craughwell expressed his solidarity: “We don’t always agree, but thuggish behaviour like this is totally unacceptable.”
The former government minister Charlie Flanagan TD said: “Sorry to learn of your shocking experience. Unacceptable. Best regards.”
Waterford’s Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler was similarly horrified: “So sorry Ciaran that you and Anne were subjected to this appalling abuse.”
