Inch protestors want to stop people with 'ulterior motives' from entering community
Locals blocking the roads to the Magowna House hotel in Inch, Co Clare. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22
Protesters at the Co Clare hotel at the centre of a controversy over housing refugees have told local radio that their blockade is intended to stop people with “ulterior motives” from coming into their community.
Speaking on Clare FM, a representative of the group said they have been barricading entrances to and from the Magowna House Hotel because nobody consulted them before around 34 refugees arrived there on Monday.
They also said they were blocking access to the home with tractors and hay bales because they do not think the hotel is a suitable place to house so many refugees.
A spokesperson for the group told the local radio station that they are not blocking any refugees from coming or going, and that access to the road that runs past the hotel is for people who live locally only.
Inch resident Anne Marie Kileen said: “We will maintain our peaceful protest.
“We want to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
She added: “Local access is not blocking the refugees — it is maintaining the safety of our community and their community.”
She said that meeting minister of State Joe O’Brien was a “first step in the process” to resolve the current stand-off, but added that his offer of a four-week freeze on new refugees coming to the hotel was “disingenuous”.
Asked if the meeting had been productive, she replied: “No, I don’t think it was.
“We didn’t hear anything come back from it that would change our position.”
Ms Kileen said her group believes there are “misconceptions” around the community’s protest.
She told presenter Alan Morrissey that “the huge factor” of their dispute was the “zero consultation” in advance by authorities.
Despite the barricades that are most noticeable at the entrances of the hotel, right-wing demonstrator Philip Dwyer has been positioned directly in front of the hotel, where he has been filming himself speaking.
He has filmed himself shouting at people, including refugees, and calling them names.
He has also targeted journalists and verbally abused them.
Mr O’Brien met a small delegation of residents in a bid to defuse growing tensions on Thursday which followed comments by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Justice Minister Simon Harris.
Both men had made comments which the protesters felt were wrongly implying that they are racist or anti-immigration.
There were still calls yesterday for the blockade to be lifted.
Protestors are due to hold a meeting this weekend to discuss the community representatives’ meeting with Mr O’Brien.
He has asked them to end the barricade, and in exchange agreed that no more refugees will be sent to the hotel over the next four weeks.
