Mick Clifford: We must avoid gutter of cheap politics

Reserves of empathy will continue to be required from a public that has thus far shown itself to be welcoming of those fleeing their homes

A silage bale blocking another entrance at Magowna House on Wednesday. Reserves of patience and empathy will continue to be required from a public that has thus far, to the greatest extent, shown itself to be largely welcoming of those fleeing their homes.

Another ugly week in a time of living dangerously for some. Migrants forced to live in tents on a Dublin street were attacked and burnt out of their makeshift homes. Then during the week, another protest, another flashpoint, when a blockade was erected at the entrance to a hotel in Inch, Co Clare, because some locals were unhappy at how asylum seekers were being relocated there. 

There is no context in which the incident in Dublin can be described as anything other than hate and thuggery. What unfolded at the Magowna House hotel in Inch is of a different order. There are fears, some real, others manipulated or manufactured, in places like Inch around the country.