Martin 'hopes' for no copycat protests over asylum seekers following concessions in Clare
Locals at a blockade at the turn off for Magowna Hotel in Clare on Thursday. Minister of State at the Department of Integration, Joe O’Brien, said there would be a four-week “pause” on increasing the number of refugees in Inch following a meeting with protesters on Thursday. Photo: Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he hopes there won’t be similar copycat protests over asylum seekers after the government bowed to pressure from residents in Clare.
Minister of State at the Department of Integration, Joe O’Brien, said there would be a four-week “pause” on increasing the number of refugees in Inch following a meeting with protesters on Thursday. Mr Martin said he does not know if locals protesting outside Magowna House Hotel have preconceptions about refugees and that he has to take them at face value.
However, he said generally there have been “outrageous” false stories spread about asylum seekers and the country needs to stand up against it. Mr Martin said he met a person last week who was “convinced” after reading a Facebook post that 150 refugees have been moved into a location, which was not true.
He said the Facebook post said things such as “your children are in danger” and “shocking stuff". “That is a factor. I think that's beginning to spread unease and we have to really refute that. It's unacceptable,” he said.
When asked if he is concerned there will be copycat protests such as the one in Clare given the government now appears to have bowed to the protesters, Mr Martin said he hopes not. He said the government will “assess” the situation in Inch again in terms of whether to increase the number of refugees moved to Magowna House Hotel.
The Tánaiste also said Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is “confident” that officers have the ability to deal with the anti-immigrant protests. It comes after the body representing rank-and-file gardaí said they are not trained to deal with an escalation in anti-immigration protests.
Mr Martin said Mr Harris has said gardaí have the capacity to deal with the issues but that the force would also “develop strategies” given it is “new territory in many respects in terms of Ireland".
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has said pod-style accommodation has "vast potential" to house migrants quicker and he would like to see the use of pods “scaled up". He said three pilot projects - one in Collins Barracks - would be "good quality" accommodation that would be easier to find sites for compared with modular housing.
When asked how widespread pod-style accommodation would be, Mr O'Brien said "at scale is at scale".
"(I'm) not going to put a number on it yet, but I want to see it scaled up and scaled up quickly, and scaled up means initially in the hundreds, and to build on it from there," he added. "It is important they're designed properly, you're not just dropping them into a field, you need to have all the other siteworks done as well."
Plans to house refugees in floating accommodation in Cork city are “at a very early stage” and have not yet been fully decided, the Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said.
Two sites – one at Penrose Quay and one at Horgan’s Quay in the city – have been identified by the Port of Cork as potential locations for ‘floatels’ where refugees could be accommodated, it is understood.
