Senator Robbie Gallagher has called on the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee to progress his Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Amendment) Bill through the Dail.
The Bill - which has progressed to Committee stage - will legislate for a stronger mandatory sentence for anyone convicted of assaulting emergency workers in the course of their duty.
The Monaghan Senator says assaults on emergency workers are on the increase. He highlighted the attack on two members of the Garda Siochana over the weekend in Dublin, whom he added were simply "going about their duty to protect the community they serve".
Senator Gallagher added that the time had come to "call a halt" to attacks on those who go out daily and put their lives on the line to protect all of us. "Emergency workers are the people that we turn to in an emergency situation; in our moment of need we call upon them and they come running.
If those people are then assaulted as they go about that duty then I think we have a duty to protect them also. This legislation, I feel, would go some way to creating some kind of a deterrent that would make someone pause and think before they assault an emergency worker," he said.
