Irish Examiner view: Criminal act shows the true face of racism
The entrance to Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahill, Co Galway, was closed at the weekend as gardaí investigated the cause of the fire. Picture: MWI
The unfolding saga that is the arson attack on a Co Galway hotel earmarked to accommodate some 70 asylum seekers has highlighted once more the uncomfortable hidden truths about an increasingly ambivalent attitude towards foreign people seeking succour here.
That incongruity is illustrated by the fact that those to the forefront of local protests, including two local Fianna Fáil councillors, could insinuate that the temporary housing of 70 male migrants was going to instil fear in the local community, while also condemning the perpetrators of this act of criminal damage at the Ross Lake Hotel.
Justifying the initial protests on the basis that Ireland’s “inn is full” and should no longer accept people fleeing war, famine, and other horrors, as well as claiming that, if this was a criminal act — as it most certainly was — then the Government was responsible, is to miss the point completely.
So, what made it happen? We can correctly deduce that, as has been highlighted by the Irish Refugee Council, there has been a pattern of attacks throughout the country on premises designated as reception centres for asylum seekers. These are not isolated incidents and the biggest fear is that they have been orchestrated and carried out by malign right-wing agitators.
Certainly — as has been acknowledged by the Government — there have been issues with the engagement between the authorities and local communities, but that’s no excuse for the criminality we have witnessed. Neither is it a proper illustration of how this country treats refugees.
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As a civilised nation — and a nation whose people have emigrated to every corner of the world — we have a responsibility to look after migrants looking for shelter, a responsibility that is arguably greater than most.
Instilling fear within communities is part and parcel of an established racist playbook and the torching of this hotel is — as much as the recent riots in Dublin did — merely a way of exacerbating rational and reasonable concern into diabolical and disgraceful acts of criminality.
The tail is wagging the dog.
Male-dominated bastions of Irish society have slowly been crumbling in recent years as the country veers towards a more inclusive and representative outlook which better reflects the modern nation we strive to be.
That fact was underlined once more last week when the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), until recently an organisation which boasted a men-only executive while purporting to represent the best interests of all of those in the agri-sector, elected Carlow native Alice Doyle as the first woman to hold the position of vice-president in the organisation.
Alice, who has been living with her husband Tom on their beef and tillage farm near Gorey, Co Wexford, for over 30 years, beat stiff competition from Galway dairy farmer Pat Murphy to secure her election to the post.
She maintains there is now an openness within the IFA to incorporate more women into positions of authority within the organisation and her election is proof that the previously all-male upper echelons has finally begun to see the value of having women influence policy decisions.
And, she also feels that having a woman in the vice-presidential role will open doors for a greater female presence at local level within the association.
Ms Doyle may be a groundbreaker, but maintains that is not the fault of the IFA, but rather a lack of belief among female farmers that they can do the job.
Her presence on the executive will certainly bring more balance to the organisation, reflecting that which already exists on many Irish farms. Female farmers already contribute greatly to both individual farms as well as the agri-sector as a whole and the IFA’s new vice-president now has the opportunity to prove the point.
When the US House of Representatives accorded a special honour to Maureen Sweeney in 2021, it was in gratitude for her unique place in the events which led up to the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day — which precipitated the fall of Nazi Germany and the end of the Second World War.
She was a humble postmistress from Blacksod, Co Mayo, where she was required to record meteorological measurements. In the course of her work and at just 21 years old, on June 3, 1944,
she identified a big drop in pressure that signified a storm coming in from the Atlantic.
Unbeknownst to her, the information she passed on to the Irish Meteorological Service in Dublin was subsequently
relayed to the Allied High Command, based in Britain,
It was then used by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Armed Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, to postpone the D-Day landings for 24 hours.
Eisenhower’s decision was fraught with danger — lest the German defenders in France got wind of the forthcoming invasion — but for the safety of the hundreds of thousands of personnel involved, he delayed dispatching his massed forces from June 5 until the following day. As we know now, this potentially saved thousands of lives from unnecessary carnage.
Ms Sweeney might not have been aware of the significance of the information she had forwarded at the time, but it was a vital cog in the Allied effort to finally quell the German hegemony in Europe. The cost of which — in human terms alone — was unprecedented in history.
Originally from Co Kerry, Maureen Flavin — as she then was — moved to Mayo to work in the postal service.
Her death last weekend, in her 101st year, marked the end of a unique life and a remarkable contribution to ending a terrible conflict. In that regard, the recognition of the Congressional Award in 2021 was only right and fitting.
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