A Dublin councillor was arrested today after she splashed red paint on Minister for Health Mary Harney in what she described as a "symbolic" protest against the forthcoming "blood budget".
Louise Minihan of the socialist republican group Éirígí threw what she said was diluted paint on the Minister as she arrived to turn the sod on the new Ballyfermot Primary Care and Mental Health Centre.
Ms Harney was splattered across her neck, hands and clothes in the incident. Despite the paint attack, she continued with the sod-turning ceremony.
Ms Minihan, who was part of a group of some 20 protesters, was arrested at the scene. She was released without charge from Garda custody at 11.30am.
The protesters had been demonstrating against cuts at Cherry Orchard Hospital which provides respite care and full-time beds for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
"In one month’s time, the Government will introduce what can only be described as a blood budget. The cutbacks in healthcare that will be contained in that budget will result in the unnecessary and avoidable deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people over the coming years," Ms Minihan said.
She dismissed the sod-turning ceremony as a "publicity stunt" by the Minister. "This is the same hospital which has been starved of funding for years, where an entire ward for Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers was closed down during the summer," she said.
"The red paint that I used in today’s protest is symbolic of the blood that Harney, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have on their hands. Irish citizens are literally dying to satisfy the demands of the IMF, the EU and the money markets. The wealth of this country should be used to provide a first class health service that is open to everyone and not to bail out the private banks."
Ms Minihan said that all across the country - in Tipperary, Navan, Monaghan, Wexford and elsewhere - people had taken to the streets in their tens of thousands to defend their local hospitals.
She said all of these local hospital campaigns needed to come together in the run up to December’s "blood budget".
Ms Minihan is a former Sinn Féin councillor.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Ms Harney said she did not accept paint-throwing as an acceptable form of protest.
“I find that very intriguing that somebody who’s an elected politician representing the people would be involved in a protest that I believe, and so many other people believe, is not legitimate,” she said.
“We see protests all the time and in every democracy protest is legitimate and it’s important people advocate in different ways, they can picket, they can make their voice heard. But I think an incident like this, I do not believe, is what the vast majority of the people of Ireland would support.”
Labour party TD Mary Upton described the attack on Ms Harney as "unacceptable."
"While there are many reasons to take issue with how our health services are being run by the current Government, attacks such as this are not acceptable under any circumstances," she said.
"The irony of this incident today was that Minister Harney was opening a facility that is very welcome in my constituency and this should have been a good news story."
"The severity of the crisis caused by the present Government is being felt across the country and protests that highlight the public mood are justified, however, they must be respectful," she added.
Additional reporting: PA