McEntee: Those behind fire at intended Galway refugee building 'will be held accountable'

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said arson was a criminal offence, for which there were 'very strong penalties'.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said those responsible for the suspected arson attack on a building in Galway which was due to house international protection applicants “will be held accountable”.

Ms McEntee said she was “shocked and saddened” by the incident, adding it is extremely disturbing to see the escalation from what started as a peaceful protest.

Locals had formed a blockade at the entrance to Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahill, Co Galway, which had been selected to house 70 asylum-seekers in the coming days.

The fire broke out shortly after 11.30pm on Saturday.

When asked if she believed the incident would lead to copycat incidents, Ms McEntee said arson was a criminal offence, for which there were “very strong penalties” and those responsible would be held accountable.

“The vast majority of protests that have taken place have been peaceful, but as a Government, there is a very clear message that this won’t be tolerated, and the gardaí themselves have said this won’t be tolerated,” she said.

Ms McEntee described the suspected arson as disgraceful, adding there was a “sinister” side to it.

“Gardaí are conducting investigations at the moment and I really would urge anybody from the locality or further afield who has any information to please come forward,” she said.

Ms McEntee said gardaí were monitoring the protests in the lead-up to the incident but added it was “very difficult to predict anything” due to the rural location of the property as well as a lack of CCTV.

Despite being the latest in a string of suspected attacks on properties earmarked to accommodate international protection applicants, Ms McEntee said gardaí could not predict “every single incident that might arise”.

“They can manage as they see it and as they clearly did over the weekend, however, later on that night in an area that has no CCTV footage, and private property that would have had security, this arson took place,” she said.

When it was put to her there was a pattern of similar incidents concerning properties earmarked for international protection applicants, she said there were a number of criminal investigations under way, while several arrests had been made throughout the year.

She said gardaí had policed over 700 protests in 2023, the majority of which, she said, had been peaceful.

“We have had a number of situations where they’ve escalated but these are not protests, this is arson, this is criminal damage and these are people who need to be held responsible for their actions,” she said.

She said she did not agree with Galway Fianna Fáil councillor Noel Thomas's comments in which he said Ireland should no longer be accepting international protection applicants, adding the “inn is full”.

“I don’t agree with the sentiment that Ireland is full — we had 15,000 applications for international protection last year, that amounts to about 0.02% of our overall population,” she said.

However, Ms McEntee said the State had relied on private accommodation “too much”, adding the implementation of Government-led reception centres would give “greater power and ability to deal with scenarios as they arise”.