No 'overarching conspiracy' linking arson attacks, committee to hear

Firefighters tackle a blaze at Crooksling, Dublin, last month. Picture: Dublin Fire Brigade/X/Twitter

There is no “overarching conspiracy” linking a series of arson attacks on accommodation either earmarked or rumoured to be used for asylum seekers, an Oireachtas committee is set to hear.

Deputy Garda Commissioner Shawna Coxon will tell the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Tuesday that all arson incidents reported in recent months are being examined by the Special Detective Unit, to “determine if there is any commonality” regarding those events.

“At the moment, there is nothing to suggest there is an overarching conspiracy involved in these attacks, but we will continue to keep an open mind on this based on the evidence,” she will say.

“Arson is a very serious crime. Not only can it destroy public or private property, but there is a significant danger of loss of life,” Ms Coxon will say, adding that — to date  — gardaí have made “a number of arrests for arson attacks ... on IPAS [International Protection Accommodation Services] or rumoured IPAS locations”.

She will add that not all incidents initially publicly reported as arson turn out to be the case, while in one instance a leaflet circulated around an area included the photo of a house which it claimed was to be used as an IPAS centre.

“This property was actually a private residence with a family living in it. We liaised with the family and provided them with security advice,” the deputy commissioner will say.

Separately, the same committee will be told that public representatives should have “no doubt” that people’s lives are in danger on foot of the spate of arson attacks.

Far-right monitoring organisation the Hope and Courage Collective  is set to tell the committee that the “severity” of the discourse it is seeing online “leaves us fearful for people’s lives, especially people from marginalised communities such as migrants, people seeking asylum, LGBTQIA+, and the Roma community, to name a few”.

The organisation’s director, Niamh McDonald, will say that the “intensity of hate, lies, and misinformation on social media has been on the increase for a number of years”, adding that the  Hope and Courage Collective has been “consistently warning” that real world violence would eventually follow the ramping up of such rhetoric.

The  Hope and Courage Collective has noted that arson attacks on potential accommodation centres had seen a “notable increase” by the end of 2023, at the end of a year in which far-right marches had become commonplace.

It said that there are also, however, clear differences and distinctions between the anti-immigrant mobilisations being seen a year ago and what is manifesting at present.

The marches of early 2023 have evolved into blockades, the  Hope and Courage Collective  said in a briefing document submitted to the committee, with those blockades often following “a specific and public call to action, shared and spread widely and rapidly on social media”.

While the number of people participating at such blockades has decreased in comparison to the same time in 2023, they are instead “hinged around a small number of committed anti-migrant organisers who, over the last year, have deepened their network, working more closely together to orchestrate similar mobilisations in other parts of the country,” the  Hope and Courage Collective said.

It said that the use of the phrases "military aged men" and "Ireland is full" on X, formerly Twitter, had been non-existent between 2014 and 2020, before an “explosion” in their use was noted in 2023.