Unacceptable & Disgraceful
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THE Garda Commissioner has described scenes of disorder at a site earmarked for asylum seekers as unacceptable and disgraceful.
Gardai came under attack in Newtownmountkennedy as protests during the day on Thursday descended into violence that evening.
Taoiseach Simon Harris and Justice Minister Helen Mcentee have condemned the incidents.
The trouble flared after workers contracted to carry out construction work on the former HSE facility attempted to enter the site.
The Department of Integration has identified the site as a potential accommodation option for international protection applicants.
The Garda Public Order Unit was deployed during the trouble. A statement said gardai “used force to defend themselves”, including the use of pepper spray, as part of an “escalated response” to the violence.
Three Garda patrol cars were damaged.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris visited the location in Co Wicklow yesterday. He rejected the suggestion gardai may have been heavy-handed.
He added: “There were very unacceptable scenes seen here in terms of a protest, which then turned to violence.
“We’ve seen an attempt to burn a small outhousetype premises, but also then disgracefully attacks on members of An Garda Siochana who were attacked with stones and indeed vehicles have been damaged.”
Mr Harris said one patrol vehicle was damaged with a full-sized axe, with the rear and UNACCEPTABLE front windows smashed. He said there were also attempts to injure Garda members. He added: “Rubble and stones were thrown from fields and members had to deploy in protective public order equipment and shields to make sure that they could protect themselves from the assaults upon them.”
Taoiseach Mr Harris said gardai should be supported in upholding the laws of the land.
A spokesman said: “This is a country of laws.
There were unacceptable scenes in terms of a protest, which turned to violence
CMR DREW HARRIS YESTERDAY FOLLOWING RIOTS
Attacks on gardai should be condemned by all.”
Minister Mcentee defended the approach taken by gardai. She told Newstalk: “I don’t think anybody looking at pictures from last night would disagree with the approach that the gardai have taken.
“I think we all very much value the right in this country for people to be able to protest and to protest peacefully.
“But people do not have a right, and this is where we are now at a crossing point, to prevent someone from entering their property, from people going to work, from developing a site that they own.
“This is what has happened here on this site.” Speaking in Farmleigh
House in Dublin yesterday Tanaiste Micheal Martin thanked the gardai and slammed what he described as an “attack” on the members who attended the scene in Newtownmountkennedy.
He expressed concerns about “increasingly violent” protests and condemned language being used by agitators online. He said: “Gardai were attacked. “Garda cars’ tyres were slashed and damaged and the Garda came under attack and that is unacceptable.
“We will give every support we have to the gardai in the light of what is, without question, an increasing level of viciousness and violence and lack of respect for the basic laws of the land and for those who help to enforce the laws.
“There is a more fundamental point in terms of where Irish society is going and the level of commentary, the coarseness of the comments, the abuse, the violent nature of that commentary and now as we see in actions as well.
“That threatens our democracy, in my view, and it threatens the way of life. “We have challenges, we have pressures, we have pressures from migration, we know that. But this isn’t tolerable”. A spokesman for Simon Harris, meanwhile, said that the Taoiseach “condemns the attacks on An Garda Siochana”.
He added: “The Gardai are charged with upholding the laws of the land and they should be supported in doing so.
“This is a country of laws. Attacks on Gardai should be condemned by all.”
Minister Roderic O’gorman’s Department of Integration said in a statement that it “intends to use the vacant property at Trudder House to help alleviate the serious accommodation shortage currently faced by International Protection applicants”.
They added: “The Department strongly condemns any alleged attempts to drive division and hostility towards those who come to Ireland seeking asylum.
“Acts such as these achieve nothing but endanger people’s lives and homes.”