asked the Minister for Justice if he will specify what posters or other public notices members of the Garda Síochána were instructed to tear down during the past 18 months; and, further, if he will specify any others that were reported to have been removed by members of the Garda Síochána and for which they had no authority.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Removal of Public Notices by Garda.
The only poster or notice which the Garda Síochána were instructed to remove during the past 18 months was the poster referred to in my reply to a question on 9th June.
As far as I am aware, the Gardaí did not remove any other posters during the period referred to.
Was there not a manifesto extensively posted in Dublin which was removed by the Guards? Secondly, in the Minister's reply to a supplementary question previously, he indicated that the Guards did remove posters without authority.
I did not.
The Minister indicated that in reply to a supplementary question.
I did not make any such statement. What I said was that the Guards have no instructions to remove the posters of any political Party in this country. I also want to stress that they have no right to put them up either.
In reply to a supplementary question, I understood the Minister to say that they did, in fact, remove other posters, or political posters, without authority.
No, I did not.
That is on record.
What I said was that if they removed the posters of a political Party, that they did so without any instructions from me. I want to stress that point, that the Guards will not remove the posters of any political party that is acting within the law in this State, nor are they allowed, as they did in the past, to put up those of a political Party either.
I understood that to be the fact until I heard the Minister's reply to a supplementary question.