Up in flames! Thugs target earmarked properties for arson
IN recent weeks there has been a series of protests and attacks on properties earmarked or rumoured to be earmarked for international protection applicants.
Social media has been alight with misinformation and disinformation over the Christmas and New Year period from right-wing agitators, with one posting a sinister video advising people of his ‘eight steps’ plan to stop what he called ‘human trafficking in your community’. These are some of the flash points around the country recently.
ROSSCAHILL, GALWAY
Gardaí investigating an arson attack at a disused hotel where asylum seekers were set to be housed told how they carried out a series of searches on four targeted properties.
The property at Rosscahill in Co. Galway was badly damaged in the blaze in December.
The fire at the Ross Lake House Hotel happened days before it was scheduled to accommodate 70 asylum seekers.
It is just one of a series of recent incidents of criminal damage at properties that have been rumoured to be chosen by the State as accommodation for refugees or asylum seekers.
RINGSEND, SOUTH DUBLIN
A fire broke out at the former Shipwright pub in the early hours of the morning last weekend following anti-immigration protests at the building.
Persistent false rumours had been spread by anti-immigration activists that the building would house asylum seekers and some social media accounts had called for the building to be set on fire.
In one video shared widely on social media a week before the fire, a known right-wing agitator rallied the crowd saying: ‘Does it affect Dalkey? Does it affect Blackrock? Does it affect Sandymount? And it definitely doesn’t affect Ailesbury Road or Temple Road in Dartry because they wouldn’t have it near them.
‘You need to stand up and peacefully protest and don’t allow any illegal migrants into your community.
‘Don’t be afraid to stand up to this corrupt Government.’
At this point in the video a man standing off camera shouts: ‘Burn the f***in’ c***s out’.
A week after the video was posted the Shipwright pub went up in flames in the middle of the night. Garda are investigating the cause of the fire.
FETHARD, TIPPERARY
Gardaí in Fethard, Co. Tipperary, are meanwhile investigating if a school was set ablaze after
‘possible rumours’ that the derelict building was to be repurposed as accommodation for asylum seekers.
Gardaí said they are aware of ‘disinformation and misinformation’ about the proposed use of the derelict building.
The Department of Integration said it had ‘neither considered nor examined this property’ for use as accommodation for international protection applicants.
However, comments on social media identified the building as having been earmarked for refugee accommodation.
BALLINROBE, MAYO
Plans for 50 asylum seekers to move into a building were scrapped following an overnight protest. Fine Gael representative Michael Burke said yesterday the owner of JJ Gannon’s Hotel on the main street of Ballinrobe had withdrawn a lease offered to the Department of Integration. Mr Burke was one of the councillors who was at the protest. He told the crowd councillors have little say on Government decisions relating to where asylum seekers are accommodated.
MITCHELSTOWN, CORK
In Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, another right-wing agitator posted three photographs of people going about their business on social media and commented: ‘These are Mitchelstown’s latest wave of undocumented welfare migrants, all Africans...
‘Watch your once safe streets become unwalkable. Watch a once rural town become like an urban ghetto.’
He added: ‘Ireland is in for a rude awakening and very soon’.
In nearby Fermoy before Christmas, 150 people demonstrated outside a B&B that had been earmarked for accommodation for up to 56 asylum seekers.
The protesters have been camped near the entrance to Abbeyville House guesthouse for several weeks to object to the proposed occupation of the property by up to 56 people.
A local who originally joined the Fermoy protest said she now regretted taking part.
She spoke of how it was going ‘well’ until it was taken over by ‘low-level criminals’.
URLINGFORD, KILKENNY
Protests continued yesterday at a premises in Co. Kilkenny where a group gathered after false information was put out on social media claiming that the site would be used to house ‘possibly dangerous men’.
The premises in Urlingford, which was once home to Josephine’s Restaurant, has been derelict since 2010.
The site is owned by local Kilkenny business Bernard Kavanagh & Sons Ltd, a private coach tour operator.
The coach company confirmed plans are being explored to accommodate Ukrainian refugees temporarily at the premises.
However, in a video circulating on social media, two men claimed that it wouldn’t be Ukrainian refugees and their families moving in, but a large number of migrants, some of whom are ‘possibly dangerous men’.
‘We are assuming the worst and we are going to f***ing act as if our lives are in danger,’ they said in the video
Bernard Kavanagh & Sons has hit out against this video and in a statement branded it as ‘scaremongering and lies’.
BALLSBRIDGE, SOUTH DUBLIN
Meanwhile in Ballsbridge, Dublin, yesterday, asylum seekers settled into their new home as children played in the grass outside.
The former nursing home in Ballsbridge reopened to 220 people and yesterday the scene was peaceful with no protesters or gardaí present as children played in the winter sunshine.
St Mary’s Home, beside St Conleth’s College in the south city suburb, reopened to families seeking international protection, after meetings between public representatives and residents were reported by Green Party councillor Hazel Chu to be ‘very positive and balanced’.