ONE YEAR, 13 ARSONS ...ZERO ARRESTS
As brazen attacks on properties continue, concern grows over lack of response from minister and gardaí to co-ordinated incidents
JUSTICE Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris are coming under renewed political pressure over the deepening immigration crisis as gardaí have yet to make a single arrest in connection with no fewer than 13 arson attacks linked to far-right agitators.
In the latest incident, a property at Sandyford Road in Dublin earmarked for women seeking international protection was set ablaze last Sunday evening, just hours after a video was widely shared on social media by a man who was threatening builders on the site.
This was followed by further tense protests outside a hotel in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, and a former Capuchin friary in Carlow town this week.
There have been more than a dozen arson attacks on buildings across the country over the past 12 months, most of which occurred in the wake of orchestrated campaigns online spreading disinformation about asylum seekers.
Just hours before the latest incident in Dublin, a man posted a video on TikTok in which he can be heard threatening builders working on a site earmarked for female asylum seekers.
The author of the video, who is followed by a masked man, is seen shouting at the workmen: ‘How does it feel to sell out your country? You’re a sellout – you’re worse than the Government.’
The two men shout abuse at one of the builders before the video cuts off.
‘They are interconnected groups at this stage’
Underneath the footage, one person commented: ‘Smoke alarms anyone, I sure hope they fitted them.’
A burning gif was included in another comment underneath the video post.
A named person said: ‘Burn. Hopefully no dodgy xmas light.’
Another sinister comment added, in reference to the arson attack on the Ross Lake House Hotel in Co. Galway last month: ‘Hopefully someone lights the fire of resistance just like they lit in Rosscahill. Burn, burn and keep burning until that snivelling snot of a man @michealmartinTD [Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin] heeds to people who pay his salary.’
Despite the brazen online commentary by several clearly identifiable people, Ms McEntee this week said no arrests have been made in relation to arson attacks. Adding to the confusion, gardaí were unable to confirm this weekend if arrests or charges have been brought in relation to 13 arson incidents over the past year.
Senior security sources said the arson attacks are the work of ‘rightwing extremists’ and are ‘very well co-ordinated and organised’.
They said that ‘while there is intelligence, it is the evidence and being able to identify individual players and connect that with the evidence’ that is holding up investigations.
One source told the MoS: ‘It’s very well planned. It almost looks as if it is an organised crime approach to this issue. It’s definitely right-wing violent extremists that are being coordinated and linked, and they are interconnected groups at this stage.
‘It is quite concerning, because although the SDU [Special Detective Unit] are on it and they are involved in the intelligence, the investigation side of it is slow.’
However, the gardaí and the Government’s perceived weakness in the face of the arson attacks and widespread protests across the country is causing significant concern within the Coalition.
One Cabinet source described Ms McEntee’s performance on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on
Wednesday as ‘particularly underwhelming’.
They told the MoS: ‘It is going to be a very difficult year for Helen McEntee, but also all the ministers involved in the administration of immigration. She is protected somewhat by Sinn Féin’s botched handling of that motion of no confidence last year, and she may just limp to the general election.’
Another minister added: ‘Law and order is a big problem, and all our constituents say that there is a feeling of lawlessness on the streets. There is a need for a competent media performer to calm the public disquiet and I’m afraid Helen is not that person.’ Unease over the Government’s performance has also spread to the Rural Independents in the Dáil, who usually support the Coalition. Influential Tipperary Independent Michael Lowry yesterday said the Government does not have ‘a coherent plan’ to deal with the escalating crisis over immigration. He told the MoS: ‘By not having a coherent plan we are creating a dangerous vacuum. Nothing in my career indicates that I am opposed to refugees, but the Government is not doing its job in properly managing this situation.’ Referring to protests outside the Racket Hall Hotel near Roscrea in his constituency, where a blockade was continuing last night, over its selection as a location to house 160 international protection applicants, Mr Lowry warned: ‘I have no problem with immigration, but I do have a problem when a small town is pushed beyond its capacity.
‘Roscrea is the classic example of the absence of a plan. In taking over the Racket Hall Hotel they are closing the social hub of the town. It is the only hotel in Roscrea. There will be no place for people to go for socials or birthdays or meetings.
‘There’s no pre-planning about any of this, no oversight or management. Previously, there were criteria, including the capacity of towns to deal with refugees.
‘All that is out the window. It’s panic and hand-to-mouth stuff and it is sowing the seeds of serious future divisiveness.’
One senior Government TD said of the potential political impact of the protests: ‘No one is going to trigger an election over immigration, but this is having a serious impact on the confidence Independents have on the sustainability of the current administration.
‘They [Government] appear to be incapable of dealing with utterly reasonable concerns. Look at the hysteria that accompanied [LaoisOffaly Independent TD] Carol Nolan when she dared to suggest months ago that there was a problem.’
Former minister and political pundit Ivan Yates also criticised the Government’s response to the crisis over immigration.
Speaking on South East Radio yesterday, Mr Yates said: ‘I think simply dismissing people as far-right or racist who feel there are real pragmatic consequences of excess and unfair distribution of migrants...’
Wexford Independent TD Verona Murphy told the MoS: ‘This is about planning – the system is broken. No one wants a veto, but people believe on planning there is a two-tier system and that those who are profiting from immigration are playing by different rules.
‘Consent is breaking down because the system does not work.’
‘They are closing the social hub of the town’