Tánaiste's speech at Cork city ceremony interrupted by protesters

Tánaiste Micheál Martin T.D. was in Cork city today to officially open the MacCurtain Street Public Transport Improvement Scheme alongside the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy.

Pro-Palestine activists interrupted the Tánaiste’s speech to the large crowd by chanting for the duration of his six minute address, admonishing Martin for not voting in favour of the Social Democrats proposal to impose sanctions on Israel and expel the Israeli ambassador, Dana Erlich, from Ireland.

He continued to deliver his planned speech praising all who had been involved in the McCurtain Street project alongside chants of “Micheál Martin you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”, “Israeli ambassador out”, “from the rivers to the sea, Palestine will be free”, and demands of an immediate ceasefire.

He acknowledged their protest at the end of his address, saying “these streets will be a focal point for freedom of travel, for freedom of speech, for toleration of diversity.

“We know in our heart where the people of Cork are in terms of facilitating that free flow of speech, free flow of opinion, toleration and above all, compassion for all people of this city.” 

Speaking to journalists after the event in The Metropole Hotel, Martin shared his reaction to the interruption to the interruption of his speech by protesters and gave an update on the situation with regards evacuating Irish citizens out of the region.

“What you have there are far left activists, but you’re getting more of the intolerance" he began, explaining: "I met with Gazans yesterday, dual Irish citizens whom we managed to get out of Gaza and evacuate, I brought them to Government buildings yesterday to talk to them, and facilitate them sharing their experiences with me.

“They were very, very grateful to Ireland - for going over there, for helping to get them and their children out, and indeed we had another family out the night before last from Gaza, we have some still remaining with their dependents and we are still working and will continue to work on it to get the remainder out.

“You only do that by maintaining diplomatic channels, the fact of the matter is that Israel and Egypt are key to the evacuation of citizens and foreign nationals in general from Gaza”, he said.

Mr Martin added that in respect to Emily Hand, they were praying and hoping that she would be one of those to be released, and added that they wanted all hostages held by Hamas to be released, saying that they have raised Emily’s case repeatedly to leadership of Middle Eastern countries who could potentially have influence.

The Tánaiste continued: “If you were listening to what they were suggesting today, in this position, we wouldn’t have any citizens coming out of Gaza, it’s a simple fact.

“We wouldn’t have diplomatic networks to facilitate the evacuation of citizens or indeed to engage with those involved in the war in Gaza to get them to stop.

“Ireland has been to the fore in calling for cessation of violence, but what you witnessed this morning is that they didn’t want me to speak, they didn’t want people who came for the opening of this street to hear me speaking.

“Now I kept speaking, because I’m not going to allow myself or people like that to drown out democracy”, he concluded, adding “I tolerate all people and political opinions.”