Arson fears point to another evil minority

Any sensible society has a deep well of communal mythologies, some of which it uses to sweeten bitter realities.

We can, and often do, refer to this country as the land of saints and scholars even if saints are thinner on the ground than they were after the Vikings razed the monasteries.

We also like to believe that we enthusiastically roll out the red carpet for anyone kind enough to visit; céad míle fáilte is offered as much as a cultural philosophy as a catchcry. Sadly, that may be just another communal myth even if the great majority of us have a genuine commitment to that ideal.

The reports that a former hotel on the Leitrim/Roscommon border earmarked as a base for 80 refugees may have been deliberately burned is a shameful rejection of that philosophy.

That it comes weeks after a similar attack in Donegal confirms there is an evil minority prepared to behave in this appalling way. However, in Donegal the people of Moville responded magnificently, making sure that those who were to move to the town understood they were very welcome. They set a precedent that, hopefully, the people of Rooskey, where the former Shannon Key West Hotel was burnt, will follow.

That this attack occurred while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was in Ethopia, one of the countries where we support a series of development projects adds irony to outrage.

It also makes a phrase used so often in another shaming context relevant again: Not in our name.