Martin condemns refugee accommodation arson attacks after latest incident in Longford

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has condemned arson attacks on premises being prepared to accommodate refugees as contrary to Irish values just hours before yet another premises was targeted in a suspected arson attack in Longford.

Mr Martin said that attacks on buildings, which have been earmarked to accommodate refugees or rumoured to be earmarked as accommodation centres, was a very worrying development which was completely inimical to the values of Irish people.

“There is no question that the arson situation is absolutely unacceptable. It is a dangerous phenomenon that is developing and runs contrary to our Constitution and our very way of living in terms of people’s entitlement to limb, to life and to property. That is a very fundamental thing.”

“It is not something that is in tandem with our values as a people,” said Mr Martin as he pointed out that international protection applicants had been coming to Ireland for many years and in the vast majority of cases, they were accepted and integrating well.

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Mr Martin made his comments before the latest suspect arson attack when two fires were started late on Tuesday night at the former Sisters of Mercy Convent on Main Street in Lanesboro, Co Longford that is currently being converted for use to house Ukrainian refugees.

Asked about the large number of such arson attacks – estimated by The Irish Mail on Sunday to exceed over a dozen and the fact that gardaí have not arrested anyone in connection with the fires, Mr Martin said that he had every confidence in An Garda Síochána in bringing those responsible to justice.

“Gardaí have successfully dealt with many forms of crime over the years – to find those that are culpable and to not only identify those involved but also that cases can be taken through the courts successfully,” he said, speaking in Cork earlier this week.

On Monday following scuffles between protesters and gardaí outside Racket Hall in Roscrea after International Protection Applicants were bussed into the hotel, local Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD, Jackie Cahill told RTÉ’s Drivetime that he had reported a threat to burn down the hotel to gardaí.

Mr Cahill said that one the protesters phoned him the previous Thursday and said “under no circumstances would asylum seekers be moving into Racket Hall” and at the first opportunity they would “burn it down”. He said he knew the man and was surprised but took it to be “a credible” threat.

“I knew who it was and he said it and there are arson attacks happening so I wasn’t going to keep the information to myself ... The vast majority of people who were protesting would run a mile from anything like that. I felt obliged to report it,” he said.

“The guards have to take the situation seriously. It only takes one person to do something very stupid for us all to be regretting what has happened. And if someone got hurt there today and there wasn’t a Garda presence, some people would be saying other things.”

However, one of the protesters, Noel Wright, told The Irish Times on Tuesday that no local person was involved in any threat to burn down the hotel as locals wanted to retain the premises as a hotel to serve the community for weddings, confirmations and funerals.

Mr Wright said that a far-right activist had suggested burning down the hall before the arrival of the 17 International Protection Applicants on Monday but locals wanted nothing to do with any such threats and he insisted that no local had been involved in issuing any such threats.

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