Exclusion zones around asylum seeker centres would restrict people’s constitutional right to protest.
That's according to Liam Herrick, Executive Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL).
He was speaking after new figures showed 64 protests have been policed in Dublin this year, compared to 307 in all of last year.
Mr Herrick told Newstalk Breakfast the approach currently being taken is the right one.
"I think the difficulty is that there's a constitutional right to peaceful protest," he said.
"If you were to try to restrict it in the way that's being suggested, it would require legislation - which is a very blunt instrument and would restrict the rights of a wider category of people.
"I think the approach the Guards are taking at the moment is the one we would support.
A sign seen at protests against asylum seekers in Dublin's East Wall. Picture via Twitter/@andreagilligan"They are focusing on the criminal elements around these protests and dealing with them through the laws against intimidation, threats, violence and so on.
"I think that is where we should start.
If we have an established pattern over many years, as has been the example around hospitals... then we might be in a different situation.
“I think, at this point, legislation would be a blunt instrument and isn't perhaps the appropriate focus".
'The targeting matters'
Green Party Councillor Michael Pidgeon said something else needs to be done.
"I [would] reluctantly support the idea if these kind of protests continued out there," he said.
"Obviously, people have a right to protest, and whether I agree with the cause or not - I definitely don't in this case - the location and the targeting matters.
"I think it's a bit like freedom of speech where, you absolutely have freedom of speech, but you don't have a right to intimidate, threaten or libel someone.
"If you're outside a hotel or a home where there's vulnerable people - including children - with people there chanting, 'Get them out,' I think that's something we'd have to, unfortunately, reluctantly, look at and say, that actually crosses a line.
"In the same way that I can protest about virtually anything outside the Dáil, I can't come in to your listener’s kitchens or go inside their car and claim that's a protest.
"I think it's about setting a reasonable limit," he added.
