Gardaí keeping an eye on right-wing groups exploiting local 'anti-refugee' protests

In December, residents from the East Wall Road area of Dublin, blocked traffic at Dublin Port Tunnel as they protested over an asylum-seeker accommodation centre in East Wall. Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

Gardaí are monitoring the activities of various right-wing groups and individuals who they believe are trying to fuel and exploit local ‘anti-refugee’ protests.

In the latest incident, crowds gathered outside a school in South-West Dublin on Tuesday and Wednesday evening after information was circulated that refugees were being housed inside it.

Further, inaccurate, information spread on social media that male refugees were being bused into Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in Drimnagh.

In a statement, the school confirmed emergency housing was provided in a small section of the school over the Christmas holidays — between December 23 and January 3 — and that the refugees were brought elsewhere on Tuesday, before school reopened on Thursday.

Video footage showed a large crowd gathered outside the school on Mourne Road and around the general area on Wednesday evening, in protests that did not seem to be organised or marshalled in any noticeable way.

The footage indicated a section of crowd appeared to be taking part in protests, while another section, including a number of teenagers and younger children, were there to see what was going on.

A woman, who said her child went to the school, spoke to the crowd, and raised concerns at male refugees staying in the school.

Protestors in Fermoy in November demanded the immediate deportation of 66 recently arrived international protection applicants.

Another woman, who indicated she was also a parent, stressed she was not racist. She blamed RTÉ for promoting “Covid-19, Strep A and tuberculosis” and asked what guarantees did parents have that these diseases were not being brought in.

Philp Dwyer, who ran unsuccessfully for election in 2020 for the right-wing National Party, posted a one-hour livestream.

Speaking to the crowd, he said he was trying to expose what he said were “plantations and people trafficking centres” and said men of military age from the Middle East and Africa, and not women and children, were being put in them.

Throughout the footage, there were repeated shouts from sections of the crowd of “Save our schools” and “Get them out”.

A cross-party statement from local politicians said the refugees were “women fleeing the war in Ukraine” and said the actions of the school were “the right and proper” thing to do.

Gardaí, who had patrol cars in the area, arrested one woman for a public order incident and charged her.

Gardaí are conscious of what seems to be a spate of similar protests in recent times, as seen in East Wall in Dublin, Fermoy in Cork and Carlingford in Co Louth.

Garda sources said they were aware particular groups and individuals were exploiting local misinformation and concerns for their own purposes.

“Our approach is the less oxygen we give them the better,” said one source, “but we are monitoring the activities of various groups and certain individuals.

“We are conscious that protests like these can suddenly flare up.”