Those renting out buildings for refugees likened to 'English landlords of decades ago'

Just hours earlier, two other Fianna Fáil councillors were reprimanded for comments around asylum seekers following a fire at Ross Lake House Hotel in Co Galway

Cllr William O'Leary told a protest at Abbeyville house in Fermoy on Monday night that people who buy buildings and rent them as refugee accommodation "are the biggest traitors out of everyone". Picture: Denis Boyle

People who buy buildings and rent them as refugee accommodation are “worse than the English landlords of decades ago” and “as bad as any drug cartel,” a Cork Fianna Fáil councillor has claimed.

"They are the biggest traitors out of everyone," Cllr William O’Leary said to loud applause at a protest about asylum seekers moving into a former B&B in Fermoy, Co Cork. He also said that immigration into the country is not sustainable at current levels and there is a failure by government to acknowledge the issue.