THE LEADER OF the Social Democrats has backtracked on a speech she made in the Dáil yesterday, calling for the Government to publish a communications strategy for engaging with local communities housing refugees. 

After receiving substantial criticism for her remarks online, Holly Cairns issued a statement on Twitter today saying: 

“As a public rep I have a responsibility to choose words carefully. I didn’t do that here so I want to be very clear. Asylum seekers are welcome here.

“I absolutely & unequivocally condemn the abhorrent mistreatment of people seeking asylum.”

Cairns made the speech in question yesterday, while residents in Co Clare continued to blockade a hotel where asylum seekers are being accommodated. Some of the protestors reportedly boarded a bus carrying asylum seekers to conduct a “headcount” as the bus left the centre.

It was also after anti-immigration protesters set tents belonging to asylum seekers on fire last Friday.

She received criticism online for the speech, in which she lamented that “no one was told” that asylum seekers were to be housed in the hotel in Inch. 

Former TD Ruth Coppinger said: “Very strange thing for the Soc Dems to highlight when refugees being blockaded and burnt out?”

In the statement issued today, Cairns maintained that the Government response to the asylum seeker accommodation crisis is “increasingly chaotic”, and that engagement with local communities housing asylum seekers needs to take place. 

“Not to offer vetoes, but to foster good relations and help integration,” she clarified. 

Cairns further stated that asylum seekers need to have access to essential services, such as healthcare and education. 

During her speech in the Dáil yesterday, the Social Democrats leader told Justice Minister Simon Harris:

“The manager of Magowna House knew for three months that asylum seekers would be housed there. But nobody else was told. The local community was not told, local politicians were not told, not even Clare Immigrant supports centre, who’ve been providing outreach services for over 30 years was told.”

She also echoed the claims of Green Party senator Roisin Garvey that there is increasing tension between the integration and housing ministers, and accused the cabinet of playing “party politics” over asylum seeker accommodation.