Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he has spoken to one of the Fianna Fáil councillors in Co Galway who had criticised Government policy on migration.
The exchange took place after a suspected arson attack at the weekend on a disused hotel in Rosscahill, Co Galway, where 70 asylum seekers were to stay from Thursday.
Fianna Fáil councillor Noel Thomas said in the aftermath that he did not condone the suspected attack on the Ross Lake House Hotel, but said Ireland should stop accepting asylum seekers because “the inn is full”.
Mr Martin cited the comments of Co Galway Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív, who argued “there was room at the inn”, in the form of an empty hotel that could have housed people before it was damaged.
The Fianna Fáil leader said he had spoken to Mr Thomas and had tried to get in touch with another councillor, Seamus Walsh, who had criticised the Government policy as ‘senseless’, to tell them that he disagreed with their views.
“I have spoken to one of the councillors and endeavoured to speak to the other, (but) didn’t make contact,” he said.
“I rang (Mr Walsh), in fairness, I made a call … he may not have identified my number on his phone … I may not be on his list. I rang councillor Noel Thomas, the party has subsequently spoken to councillor Walsh.”
He added: “I do not agree with what those councillors have said, I take strong issue with the nuance and the implications of what they said.
“I spoke to councillor Noel Thomas and I made that very clear that there can be no implication, no nuance, around a criminal attack on a building, on a property.
“To be fair, he was clear to me that he was making no implication, but nonetheless he did make comments to the effect that the attack was as a result of Government policy.”
The Government plan had been the subject of local opposition and demonstrators blocked the entrance to the hotel on Saturday in protest.
200 homeless applicants
Those due to be housed in Rosscahill were among the approximately 200 applicants who are without an offer of state accommodation.
The Government has struggled to meet its international obligations to house asylum seekers, and said its plans to limit State supports for Ukrainian nationals arriving from February are expected to limit numbers arriving in Ireland.
The suspected arson attack in Rosscahill also follows a clear pattern of attacks on other accommodation centres for asylum seekers this year, according to the Irish Refugee Council.
Mr Martin said that the “absolutely unacceptable” comments of the councillors also follows a pattern of similar commentary in the Dáil.
“Those comments were absolutely unacceptable in my view, and the nuance and also the implication in both councillor Walsh’s and councillor Thomas’ commentary, which we’ve heard from other TDs in the Dáil, that there is a link somewhere between migrants and bad behaviour or criminality.
“I think that has to be, in my view, completely knocked on the head and ruled out. That’s unacceptable kind of talk or language. There’s no evidence base for that at all and I really took issue with that implication.”
“knee-jerk” policies
He added that Brexit had offered a lesson in pursuing “knee-jerk” policies in response to a surge in migration.
He said that this attempt to control migration had not limited the numbers going to the UK, adding that the number of people moving between countries was “ultimately a function of how the world is working or not working”.
Asked about repercussions for the councillors, Mr Martin said he wouldn’t “pre-empt” the review process.
“There is a process in place and natural justice applies, but it’s a very rigorous process and it has been used in the past. We will continue to review the situation.”
Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA & Beat News
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