Family home of Paul Murphy targeted by protesters

Vivienne Clarke

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has posted on social media about protests at his home by what he described as elements of the political far right.

Mr Murphy shared a picture of 11 people outside his home in Dublin on Monday evening, most of whom had their faces obscured or who were wearing hoods.

Mr Murphy said: "Far right protesting outside our home right now. We were literally preparing to give our newborn baby a bath".

Far right protesting outside our home right now.

We were literally preparing to give our newborn baby a bath. pic.twitter.com/1t7pWiUVXD

— Paul Murphy 🏳️‍⚧️ (@paulmurphy_TD) April 24, 2023

Demonstrating outside politicians’ homes has become a tactic by protest groups in recent years.

Among those who have been targeted are Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Justice Simon Harris.

In September 2021 some protesters gathered outside Mr Varadkar’s home in the south inner city in Dublin on a Sunday afternoon. Gardaí attended the incident where it is understood a number of anti-vaccine demonstrators gathered for about an hour.

Protesters gathered outside the Co Wicklow home of Mr Harris on a number of occasions in early 2019, when he and his wife were taking care of their newborn baby. The protest sparked criticism from Mr Varadkar who said it was “disgusting”.

In an interview with Newstalk radio on Tuesday morning, Mr Murphy was asked if his position on protesting had changed after demonstrators turned up at his home.

He said: "No, it hasn't altered. I've never participated in a protest outside someone's home. I think it's not right to bring people's family into it and potentially to try and intimidate people like public representatives by targeting their family in that way.

"And having said that, I've never called for and wouldn't call for a ban, you know, a legal ban on such protests, because I think that's a slippery slope.

When it was pointed out that protesters target Government TDs as well, he responded: "Sure. Absolutely. But for people, you know, these people present themselves as anti-establishment. They were giving out a leaflet which was opposing the right to housing, ie. supporting the right of landlords to evict tenants. And I think it's really quite disgusting behaviour to target people's families."