Small protest takes place outside home of Leo Varadkar

Gardaí attend incident where number of anti-vaccine demonstrators gathered

The incident took place outside the home of Tánaister Leo Varadkar on Sunday afternoon. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The incident took place outside the home of Tánaister Leo Varadkar on Sunday afternoon. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A small number of protestors gathered outside the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s home in the south inner city in Dublin for a period on Sunday afternoon.

Gardaí attended the incident in Dublin 8 where it is understood a number of anti-vaccine demonstrators gathered for around an hour.

“I can confirm gardaí attended to an incident at a residence in Dublin 8 this afternoon where a group of persons had gathered in protest,” a Garda spokeswoman said.

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris described the protest outside Mr Varadkar’s home as “sickening, repulsive, disgusting behaviour”.

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“It has no place in a democracy, must be condemned by all & called out for what it is. Efforts to dehumanise politicians contributes to this. Vile on so many levels,” he said in a Twitter post.

The home of Mr Harris was targeted during his time as minister for health after he criticised people taking part in marches with paramilitary trappings.

Earlier this month, gardaí attended the scene of an anti-vaccination protest outside the home of his successor as Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly in a rural area of north Co Wicklow.

About 20 people gathered again outside the house, where they held up placards about the vaccine. Gardaí drove past occasionally but did not intervene. One attendee announced it was to be “hopefully” the first of many similar protests.

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns is a reporter for The Irish Times