TD to Dáil: Irish Freedom Party is behind the arson
A FAR-RIGHT party has been accused of being behind some of the recent arson attacks around the country.
Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd told the Dáil last week that the Irish Freedom Party (IFP) is ‘trying to stir up trouble’.
The Louth TD made his comments as he accused the Government of a ‘lack of consultation’ on the proposed controversial use of the D Hotel in Drogheda to house asylum seekers. The hotel is one of the largest in Drogheda town.
Speaking on March 4, Mr O’Dowd said: ‘Because of your action, because of your lack of consultation, there was a crowd of… Irish Freedom Party in our town trying to stir up trouble as they did in other parts and they are… burning places and God knows what.’
He went on to tell the Dáil that ‘nobody’ he represents supports the far-right party, going on to add, ‘but they don’t support you’.
‘They [the Irish Freedom Party] had a rally in Drogheda. When they asked could someone from Drogheda speak, nobody did – because nobody supports them.
‘I don’t support them, people I speak for don’t support them, but they don’t support you [the Government] in what you’ve done.’
Patrice Johnson, an IFP candidate in Drogheda for the forthcoming local elections, disputed Mr O’Dowd’s claims in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ms Johnson said that the Fine Gael TD was ‘using his Dáil privileges to claim the Irish Freedom Party is to blame for the recent “climate change” accidents that have happened’.
‘Climate change’ is a term used by the far-right to describe the arson attacks carried out on buildings earmarked as accommodation centres. She went on to accuse Mr O’Dowd of ‘slander’.
‘It’s becoming a very worrying trend that these TDs are allowed to use such privileges to slander others. As a Drogheda person who organised the Drogheda Says No rally, I can say his claims in the Dáil are… misleading.’
Her party leader, Hermann Kelly released a video where he also disputed Mr O’Dowd’s claims.
‘Don’t you absolutely love it when enemies of Ireland are on the run?
‘We are forcing them now to lie… We heard this useful idiot Fergus O’Dowd… [speaking] in the Dáil there last week.
‘If anyone’s doing arson, it’s himself; he’s been arsing around Co. Louth for quite a number of years now.’
Mr Kelly, who previously worked as a press officer for the former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, disputed the Fine Gael TD’s suggestion that nobody from Drogheda spoke at a rally last month against the proposed use of the D Hotel as an accommodation centre.
He added Mr O’Dowd’s claim that no one from Drogheda spoke at the rally is easily verifiable.
‘It is clearly visible on the video, which everyone can watch on YouTube, and that everybody who saw who was there said that we
‘They’re burning places and God knows what’
‘The people I speak for don’t support them’
had two candidates, both from Drogheda, and four other local Drogheda people spoke at the rally,’ he said.
‘They [the Government] are in panic mode. And why are they in panic mode? Because they can sense that people are angry about how the country is being run.’
Fellow Irish Freedom Party member Ben Gilroy also claimed that Mr O’Dowd had lied following his Dáil remarks.
‘I was there and a few people from Drogheda spoke and plenty from Drogheda were there in support. What do you expect from a Blue Shirt traitor?
‘[They are] traitors the lot of them. The measure of credibility is sacrifice. Under privilege – he sacrifices nothing.’
Meanwhile, criminal investigations are ongoing into 18 suspected arson attacks on buildings proposed or rumoured to be proposed for accommodation centres.
Despite persistent sinister online commentary from several named individuals, the first arrests for arson attacks on buildings only came last month when gardaí arrested two men and a woman in relation to the suspicious fire at the Shipwright pub in Ringsend, Dublin, in December.
When asked over a number of weeks about how many arrests had been made, in relation to suspected arson attacks on buildings that had been linked to asylum accommodation, a Garda spokesman stated that they were ‘not in a position to provide detailed update on every investigation listed in your enquiry.
‘Nor does An Garda Síochána comment generally on any particular group of investigations’.
However in a statement last month, gardaí said the total number of arrests linked to ‘arson’ attacks was 10.