A Cork man working on Capitol Hill has told how he found himself caught up in the drama in Washington earlier this week when pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try and stop Congress confirming Joe Biden's election.
Harry Sheedy (55) from Bishopstown in Cork has worked as carpenter on Capitol Hill since 2014, working mainly in the Rayburn, Cannon and Longworth Buildings which house the offices of members of the House of Representatives.
“I was in a member’s office in the Rayburn Building, putting up pictures and I got a phone call from my supervisor telling me to stop everything and to get back the workshop immediately and that was at about 2.25pm,” he said.
“Our workshop is in a basement building under a park connected by tunnels to the Capitol and all the other office buildings but they locked the door and we were basically in there watching the television to see what was happening.”
Mr Sheedy admitted that he thought there might be some protests as the Mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser had put extra police on duty in the city but he was still surprised to see protestors gain entry to the Capitol.
“It was definitely unusual seeing all these protestors inside in the chambers - this is an area where I have security clearance and I find it hard to get into these areas and they just strolled in and sat on the Chair of the Speaker.”
Mr Sheedy said that the mood among he and his colleagues was relaxed as they sat in their basement workshop and watched events unfold even though he learned more from a call from his mother back in Cork than from local TV.
"I didn't really see much of the riots – even when I was locked in the shop, I was talking to my mother on What's App video back in Cork and she was showing me the riots showing on the television in Ireland, " he said.
“We were locked in our shop for about three hours but the television here was showing the same still photos for maybe 20 minutes at a time – we saw the guy standing on the inauguration platform in the Capitol Building.
'No panic'
“There were eight of us in our shop – people were very calm, there was no panic– I think we felt very confident because there was all this talk about the Capitol being breached but the Capitol is a bit over from us.
“I don’t think anyone was worried we were going to have people coming down our hallways but it could have happened because we are connected though our hallways are separate from the ones in the House of Representatives.
“So if you are walking down our hallway, you can see there are no Members of Congress here, it’s only all trades people so we reckoned the protestors would just turn around and go on their merry way but we didn’t see any violence.”
Mr Sheedy and his workmates were held in their building until 7.30pm when it was deemed safe for them to leave but it was only when he got home to Silverspring in Maryland that he began to learn all that had happened.
"I am upset today now - I'm upset that a woman died - that was the most tragic thing - a young lady from California was shot by a Capitol Police officer and four others also died - there was no need for anyone to lose their life."
Mr Sheedy was one of a small number of carpenters called into work on Thursday and he admitted that it was slightly surreal returning to Capitol Hill so soon after the riots - if only because everything seemed so normal.
“Ok, there were National Guard on duty outside but apart from that, to me it was just a regular day as if nothing happened, everybody was going about their business, fitting cabinets, hanging pictures in the offices, all the usual stuff.”
