Taoiseach: 'Just because somebody wasn't convicted doesn't mean their behaviour was acceptable'
The Taoiseach says the Jobstown verdict must be respected.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has rejected calls for a public inquiry after the Solidarity Party insisted it's members were the subject of a 'stitch up'.
But today Solidarity addressed a #JobstownNotGuilty campaign rally in Dublin and repeated its calls for the remaining charges to be dropped.
Leo Varadkar was asked for his opinion while attending a festival in Galway.
"I think it's important that we respect that outcome because it was a trial by jury and it's a jury who spent nine weeks considering all the evidence.
"They made the decision they did.
"Just because somebody wasn't convicted of false imprisonment doesn't mean that their behaviour, or the way the treated Joan Burton and Karen O’Connell, was in any way acceptable and I don't think it was acceptable," he said.
#JobstownNotGuilty protest Dame Street. #jobstown pic.twitter.com/IKKiJsIseX
— David Lynch📷 (@DAVIDLYNCHY) July 1, 2017
Paddy Hill, of the Birmingham 6.
— Ciaran Tierney (@ciarantierney) July 1, 2017
A reminder of the grim consequences of demonising a community.
Any community.#JobstownNotGuilty pic.twitter.com/YYNrNWs6lD
Meanwhile, Solidarity TD Paul Murphy has insisted the Government set up a public inquiry into the Jobstown trial.
He was acquitted along with five others this week for the false imprisonment of former Tánaiste Joan Burton and her assistant at a water charges protest in November 2014.
Despite the Justice Minister rejecting calls for an inquiry, Deputy Murphy told a campaign rally in Dublin today that he still thinks it is possible.
"The Government ruled out abolishing water charges.
"Governments always start out by ruling out the things they don't want to give, but if enough people raise their voices together and clearly demand it and are able to expose what happened in court, well then hopefully the Government can be forced to change their mind," he said.
