Tánaiste Joan Burton has said being held in a car at a water protest in Jobstown last month worried her “about the parallels with fascism”.

“I suppose I had a couple of hours to reflect on what it would be like if we had a country run by some of the people who were outside and who seem to have an utterly nihilistic approach,” Ms Burton said, in a Christmas briefing with political correspondents

“I have to say at times when I was in that car I was worried about the parallels with fascism. How you move from a situation where you are arguing as you see it from a democratic point of view but you then decide that imprisoning people in a car is an appropriate way to treat people or to have some kind of a democratic discussion, I simply don’t know.”

Hooded men

Ms Burton also drew comparisons with the case of the Hooded Men, who were subjected to extreme interrogation techniques in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. “One of the most important decisions that the Government made a few weeks ago and I was delighted the Government made it was to refer back to the European Court of Human Rights the case from the early 1970s of the ‘Hooded Men’ and at the heart of that was how people were treated.

“If some of the people who are operating politically in Ireland think they can turn our streets into areas where people are imprisoned in cars and that that is some kind of a democratic dialogue, I couldn’t disagree with them more.”

She said following the incident in Jobstown she had continued her schedule.

“I am happy to say that people have been extraordinarily kind to me and Irish people are friendly. All of us have political issues and robust debate is part of that but I equally hope that there is respect for democracy.”

The Tánaiste also criticised Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy for saying that he was elected to break the law.