A file is being prepared for the DPP after pro-life campaigners accused two gardaí of confiscating legal campaign posters at a demonstration in Kilkenny on Saturday.
It is alleged that 10 minutes after pro-life volunteers arrived and began campaigning, two gardaí approached the pro-life group Youth Defence, saying they had received numerous complaints about their signs depicting aborted foetuses.
The Department of Public Prosecutions has previously ruled that it is legal to show the images. Garda have made written apologies for taking similar actions to what was described by campaigners in Kilkenny, in 1997 and 2010.
Rebecca Roughneen, a Project Co-Ordinator with Youth Defence, was at the scene. She was on the 10-day #SaveThe8th Roadshow since the beginning, but says she has not experienced similar treatment by the Garda anywhere else. Ms Roughneen says she felt “intimidated” by the gardaí.
Advice
After seeking legal advice, the group decided to uncover the images after the gardaí left, and say they returned 30 minutes later to seize the posters. A video posted on Facebook by Youth Defence shows two men taking the posters and putting them into a car.
“We continued a street session until about 5pm without the information boards, we had other leaflets and posters and things like that. We had a fantastic response I have to say…we were really heartened,” Ms Roughneen said.
Niamh Uí Bhrian, spokesperson for the Life Institute, said that the actions taken by gardaí have caused “concern” among pro-life campaigners, adding that if their decision to seize the posters was weighed against previous DPP decisions, they would have acted unlawfully.
She said: “I think people are anxious that the gardaí will come back and confirm this and return the boards. Because if they don’t I think people have serious concerns about what that means for free speech, and for the right to have a proper debate about this enormously important issue as we approach the referendum.”
The Garda released a statement confirming a file is being prepared for the DPP and the matter is the subject to an ongoing investigation.
“In response to a number of complaints from members of the public materials being displayed by a group holding a roadshow on High Street Kilkenny on the 22/7/2017 were seized by Gardaí. No arrests were made and the event was not being policed at the time,” it read.