LAST UPDATE | 18 Dec 2023

MINISTER FOR JUSITCE Helen McEntee has said she cannot make a commitment that further arson attacks at asylum centres will be prevented.

She was speaking after a suspected arson attack on a hotel earmarked for asylum seekers in Co Galway at the weekend, which has been widely criticised today. 

The blaze started at around 11.35pm on Saturday at the Ross Lake Hotel in Rosscahill, requiring the fire services to attend the scene and bring the fire under control.

There were no people inside the building at the time of the incident. Gardaí are investigating how the fire started.

McEntee told reporters this afternoon that the burning of the hotel was “absolutely disgraceful” and “sinister”.

Urging anyone with information to come forward to Gardaí, the minister said it was “extremely disturbing to see this type of escalation from what started as a very peaceful protest”.

Asked if the Galway incident could not have been predicted, she also said there has been “hugely successful” monitoring of protests throughout the year but the burning of the hotel was an escalation to arson that was not part of the original protest.

She said gardai had monitored the protest in Roscahill earlier in the day but said there was also private security on site: “It is very difficult where you have a rural area with no CCTV to be able to predict anything.”

She added: “There is absolutely no justification for what happened. To blame government, to blame anybody other than the person who set a match to that building is wrong. There is absolutely no justification here.”

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman earlier described the scenes as “deeply sinister”.

“I believe it was a criminal act, it was dangerous, it resulted in severe damage to private property. But I also think it was designed to intimidate people seeking international protection here in Ireland,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme. 

“I think people who use the international protection process have a right to be safely accommodated while their application is being adjudicated on.”

The minister also said that the incident “puts us under real pressure in terms of our ability to accommodate people”. 

The Department of Integration had announced on 4 December that the state had run out of accommodation for all new entrants to the county and presented to the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meanwhile said the number of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland this year “is a much smaller number than other European countries are experiencing relative to population”. 

“Yes, we’ve accepted a huge number of Ukrainians in Ireland, more so than other western European countries, but when it comes to asylum seekers the portion is relatively low.”

Councillors

The Ross Lake Hotel, which is roughly 20km from Galway city and on the outskirts of Connemara, has not been in use for a number of years but was due to welcome 70 international protection applicants over the coming days.

The site had been the subject of protests in the days before the fire against the use of the hotel for asylum seekers.

Gardaí have launched an investigation into what they called a “criminal damage incident” and have preserved the scene for a technical examination.

Two Fianna Fáil councillors in Co Galway have continued to raise concerns about government plans to house asylum seekers at the hotel.

Speaking to Morning Ireland, Councillor Noel Thomas said the local community were “concerned about the possibility of 70 male migrants being brought in to stay in the hotel because, first of all, I don’t know if you understand the remoteness of this place”.

“It’s up a little side road and then you’ve got to go up a long driveway again, through a wooded area opposite the hotel itself, it’s complete isolation,” he said. 

Thomas said that “for all we know they could be the finest people in the world”, but added that “if you want to move 70 young males into a remote area like that, it is going to instill a certain amount of fear into the local people”. 

Pressed on what people may be afraid of, Thomas said: “What they’re afraid of is there may be some antisocial behaviour coming from a group of young men being isolated in an area like this.”

When asked whether Ireland should continue to accept people looking for asylum, Thomas said “we shouldn’t” and that “the inn is full”. 

Fianna Fáil Councillor Séamus Walsh told Galway Bay FM: “If it was a criminal act, what made that criminal act happen? It’s the senseless policy of the Government.”

He added that the local area has “taken their fair share of immigrants”, adding that “we cannot be scapegoated, we cannot be used as a holding tank, it’s just not right”. 

“If it was done maliciously, it was absolutely the fear for the safety and wellbeing of their families that drove people to this.”

Both councillors have condemned the fire at the hotel. 

Accommodation

A spokesperson said the Department of Integration “is working to offer shelter to those who are fleeing war and persecution, and condemns any violence or intimidation towards International Protection applicants”.

In a statement to The Journal, the spokesperson added: “All those seeking protection have a right to safety while their application is examined.

“The Department also strongly condemns any alleged attempts to drive division and hostility towards those who come to Ireland seeking asylum. Acts such as these achieve nothing but endanger people’s lives and homes.”

O’Gorman said that “every international protection applicant is fingerprinted and their fingerprints are checked according to two EU databases in terms of had a claim been made in another EU member state and have they been involved in any element of criminality across the EU member states”.

Gardaí are appealing for anyone who may have information regarding this incident to contact them at Clifden Garda Station on 095 22500, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.

With reporting by Diarmuid Pepper, Eoghan Dalton, Órla Ryan and Press Association.