Taoiseach Micheál Martin was drawn into a heated exchange at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) annual conference on Thursday when it was disrupted by protesters against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Within moments of Mr Martin beginning his speech, a member of the audience stood up to ask why the Government had failed “to punish the apartheid state of Israel”.
Mr Martin told the protester he would like to respond and said he welcomed that “we are on the cusp of peace in Gaza and the people of Gaza will be spared the slaughter and the genocide that has occurred over recent times”.
He was referring to the newly agreed ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
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“Anywhere I’ve travelled in the world, people speak highly about the strong leadership that Ireland has given on a humanitarian basis and through the vehicle of humanitarian law, to support Palestinian self-determination, to support two states and two peoples living side by side in harmony and peace in a sustainable way,” Mr Martin said.
“Ireland has used all the international instruments available to us” and had “recognised the state of Palestine before many”.
Mr Martin then tried to return to his address to the RIAI but was shouted down by the protester.
“I don’t think you have the right to disrupt the activities of this conference,” Mr Martin said.
The protester was removed after about four minutes by a member of security staff but was replaced by another protester. This woman was removed from the conference room by gardaí after approximately two minutes. A third protester got to his feet and shouted that “Israel is starving Gaza and Micheál Martin is allowing it to happen”.
At this point delegates began to boo, with some shouting at the man to leave.
[ Thousands take part in pro-Palestine march in Dublin, calling for sanctionsOpens in new window ]
Mr Martin said: “I am a democrat, you are not a democrat you are undermining the rights of people here, anxious to conduct their conference in an orderly way, you are undermining their legitimate rights.” He said: “I won’t be intimidated by you, I won’t browbeaten by you, I have my own principals.”
The protester was then escorted from the room by gardaí, with more than half the delegates standing to applaud.
Mr Martin then returned to his address, about 12 minutes after first getting to his feet.
Speaking without referring to his prepared script, he said housing was “the biggest social issue we are facing ... we’re out to build as much as we can, as quickly as we can and there’s a will and an urgency about this ... If we don’t really deal with the housing issue we will undermine social cohesion itself”.
Expanding on measures outlined in Budget 2026, he said in terms of tackling vacancy and dereliction “basically the derelict sites act hasn’t been working ... so we are going to transfer responsibility to Revenue”.
[ People Before Profit allege Garda ‘brutality’ against pro-Palestine protestersOpens in new window ]
This decision was “illustrative perhaps of how we weren’t dealing with dereliction at local authority level”.
He said he didn’t mean this in “any overly critical way” but allowing Revenue to pursue levies owed by the owners of derelict buildings would “create a new context in terms of really hitting the dereliction issue, and making sure dereliction is dealt with far more quickly than it has been to date, notwithstanding the best intentions of all involved”.
In relation to the extension announced in the budget of the living city initiative, which provides a tax incentive for refurbishing older buildings in particular areas, he said “whoever designed it must have had an objective of making sure it didn’t work”.
The scheme has been extended to cover buildings constructed before 1975, where previously they had to have built before 1915. The amount of relief, and the town and cities where the scheme will operate, has also been increased, but “I think it could be expanded to more towns,” Mr Martin said.
He returned to the issue of the protesters, saying he appreciated people “had genuine concerns” but he said “I’ve always been of the view there is a way of articulating your position”.
Speaking outside the conference, he said the protesters had been attempting to “disrupt and undermine democratically elected politicians who should be allowed to speak in a public forum. This is dangerous ... I have very strong views about it”. He said he always ensured he finished speaking in such circumstances – “I never give in”.
Asked about Wednesday night’s Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting in the wake of the withdrawal of Jim Gavin from the presidential election, Mr Marin said it had been “a very good meeting last night. It was heartfelt. It was very open. I think everybody was genuinely pleased with the spirit of the meeting.”
Mr Martin declined to respond to suggestions that some members of the parliamentary party felt he still was not listening to them.
