Junior minister Anne Rabbitte says she was ‘detained’ by man inside her constituency office

 19th January 2022

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Minister of State for Disability Anne Rabbitte has spoken of being “detained” in one of her constituency offices by a man annoyed about the wearing of face masks while another office was the target of a bomb threat.

The Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East said a man unhappy with the Government’s vaccination programme and with the wearing of face masks blocked her from leaving her constituency office in Portumna, Co Galway, last December.

Meanwhile in a separate incident at her Athenry office, another man told her staff that he was going to “bomb” the building, forcing it to close for two days while gardaí investigated.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime programme this evening, she recalled the intimidating incident in which a man blocked her from leaving her Portumna office while he stood in the office hallway for 40 minutes.

“He stood in the position which meant that I had no exit out. He knew I was uncomfortable. There is no doubt about that,” she said.

“I suppose I was a bit agitated because I felt trapped. I kept saying ‘I need to go, I need to go. I’m sorry but I’m in a rush, I’m working to appointment. You can meet me again. Ring one of the girls in the office and I’d be delighted to meet with you’.

“But there was no putting (him) off until the phone rang. It started off with (him) being totally annoyed about the vaccination programme and about the wearing of masks,” she said.

“I was detained. I had no free access. I wasn’t comfortable. I had left myself exposed,” Ms Rabbitte said.

“I felt there was no out and luckily the phone rang. That was my opportunity to say ‘I must go’.”

While Ms Rabbitte said she was eventually able to leave, it was only after she agreed to meet him again.

“It was a term and condition to getting out of my own office,” she said.

She said the incident has forced her to take precautions when dealing with the public and she will not work alone now because of it.

“I’ve changed how I do things. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and I reflected that I won’t be doing it like that again. I can’t be putting myself in those positions so I’ve just changed how I do business.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be going to the office on my own. I’ll have somebody with me and it will definitely be on an appointment basis. That’s sad because I like that freedom.”

Meanwhile, she recalled another frightening incident at another constituency office in Athenry when a man returned the day after meeting her when she was absent and threatened her staff.

“When he came back the second day, he was very clear on what he would like to do to the office and that was to blow it up. He said he was going to bomb it. He did leave seemingly after about half an hour,” she said.

“When the staff member rang me, I said to close the office and go down to An Garda Síochána. We closed the office for a second day and there was a follow up with An Garda Síochána. I don’t want to have that feeling again in the pit of my stomach and I certainly don’t want to put my staff at risk,” she said.