Controversial comments made by two Fianna Fáil councillors about immigration have been referred to the party’s internal rules and procedures committee.
The move comes in response to comments made by Galway councillors Seamus Walsh and Noel Thomas in the wake of a fire at Ross Hill House in Rosscahill, near Oughterard, Co Galway which destroyed much of the building.
In a statement, Fianna Fáil said: “We do not accept any equivocation in respect of any criminal acts and do not accept attempts or suggestions being made to equate migration with increased criminality.”
Gardaí treating the blaze on Saturday as suspected criminal damage. The disused hotel had been earmarked to accommodate 70 asylum seekers.
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On Sunday Mr Walsh told Galway Bay FM “If it was a criminal act, what made that criminal act happen? It was the senseless policy of the Government.”
He also said: “If it was done maliciously, it was absolutely the fear for the safety and wellbeing of their families that drove people to this.”
In response to the Fianna Fáil move, Mr Walsh said he was told that the implications of his comments being reviewed by the committee would be deliberated on by its members.
He also said: “I would have to accept being thrown out of the party before I would accept going against my own community.”
Mr Walsh said he had condemned the fire at the hotel. He said the concerns of the community are about consultation and that the isolated area is “unsuitable” for housing asylum seekers.
Mr Walsh accused Fianna Fáil of “playing to the press” and said the committee’s review of his comments is “a bit rich” as he had “never received a satisfactory response” to major local issues he had raised with the party like the sewage system in Oughterard, the N59 road and unfairness he saw in planning in Connemara.
Mr Thomas, speaking on RTÉ News on Sunday, said the Government had to take the vast majority of the blame for the situation, as they were “not listening to the people”.
He added: “As long as they continue with their actions the way they are going at the moment, we are only going to see more of this.”
Speaking separately to Virgin Media News, Mr Thomas said: “We have flooded the country at the moment. There’s no regulation on how people are being brought into the country and unfortunately people are just fed up with it.”
On Monday he said that Ireland should not continue to accept people looking for asylum “because the inn is full”.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said locals were concerned about the possibility of anti-social behaviour “coming from a group of young men being isolated in an area like this”.
He agreed there is “no evidence” there was a reason to be scared of this but also said: “over the last couple of years there have been certain attacks on people and sometimes migrants were involved in these as well...
“I cannot say that this is exactly what these people are going to be doing but the fear is there no matter what.”
Subsequently, Mr Thomas, who has also said he did not condone what happened to the hotel, said he was “astonished” to hear about the referral of his comments to the Fianna Fáil committee from the media.
He said: “You would imagine that Fianna Fáil would have come to me with this news before they would go to you with it. Says it all.”
He said he also wanted to “add some clarity” to the comment he made about the inn being full.
“I stand by what I said but the reason it is full is because of the reckless open border policy our government put in place.
“They opened the gates, flooded the country with a great number of people who should not have qualified for asylum or refuge.
“And now we are left in the unfortunate situation where we are no longer able to provide suitable accommodation for the genuine refugees and others fleeing war torn countries.”
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman responded to the councillors’ initial comments, saying: “Fianna Fáil is a Republican party and we believe in equality and inclusion. The dignity of every person must be respected, regardless of background.
“We do not accept any equivocation in respect of any criminal acts and do not accept attempts or suggestions being made to equate migration with increased criminality.
“Comments made to that effect by any public representative are wrong and unacceptable.
“The Party has made this clear on numerous occasions.
“Fianna Fáil again unreservedly condemns the criminal destruction that took place in Ross Lake House hotel in Co. Galway on Saturday night and comments made by Party representatives have been referred to the Party’s Rules and Procedures Committee.”
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Ireland needs to have an “open and honest debate” on migration but that it must “avoid anything that is othering or racist.”
“I don’t respond to any individual comments that people would make,” said Mr Varadkar, when asked on Monday about Cllr Walsh’s comments. “We have a rules-based system for migration. We have a system of work permits and work visas. Yes, we have accepted a huge number of Ukrainians into Ireland, more so than other Western European countries, but when it comes to asylum seekers the proportion is relatively low. These are people in some cases who are fleeing war and fleeing oppression and in other cases are fleeing abject poverty and have no economic opportunities in their countries.”
“There are people out there who somehow believe that it’s possible, when hundreds of millions of people are on the move in the world, that 10,000 or so will not come to Ireland and that’s just not correct.
“Look across the water, look at the United Kingdom, they left the European Union and, in their words, tried to create a hostile environment for some migrants and are talking about flying people into Rwanda. They have record levels of non-European migration into the UK. Look at the situation in Canada, America. Look at parts of Europe where anti-immigration Governments have been elected, it doesn’t stop people coming. And there’s an incorrect perception that somehow the Government is bringing people into the country. That’s not the case at all.”
Mr Varadkar added: “I think we should have an open and honest debate on migration in this country but it has to be based on facts. It has to avoid anything that is othering or racist.”
“We have a job to do as a Government to communicate with people better on migration.”
Mr Varadkar said he is “concerned about the level of misinformation that is out there.”
“We have a duty, as does the media by the way, in making sure that we’re all informed and that we can push back against misinformation when it arises. There are two things I would say. First of all, Ireland is a country and a nation formed by migration, people coming here from other parts of the world and people from Ireland going to all sorts of other parts of the world. By and large, migration has been good for Ireland. We wouldn’t be able to run our public services, our restaurants, our shops if it wasn’t for migrant workers.”
He also singled out large companies who pay taxes which contribute towards housing and pensions, and social welfare costs which “wouldn’t be here if we weren’t open to talent from all over the world.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has described the fire as an act of criminality designed to intimidate international protection applicants coming to Ireland.
“What we saw in Galway was deeply sinister,” Mr O’Gorman said on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland. “I think people who use the international protection process have a right to be safely accommodated while their application is being adjudicated on.”
Mr O’Gorman said that there was no evidence to link migrants with criminality. “I think it is really problematic when elected representatives come on to our national airwaves and make these entirely bogus claims.”
Mr O’Gorman said that every international protection applicant entering the country is fingerprinted, and checked against two European Union (EU) databases – one of which advises whether the applicant has been involved in criminality. “That’s a significant level of security, I believe.”
Mr O’Gorman contended the Oughterard community had received adequate notice – six days – that 70 migrants were due to be housed at Ross Hill House. “In the context where we are also not able to accommodate a significant number of people right now, I do believe it’s adequate notice.”
He accepted that hotels are not an adequate long-term solution to housing asylum seekers. “But we are in a situation now where we need to provide accommodation for people and hotels have to be part of the mix.”
Mr O’Gorman said that the destruction of the hotel puts his department under “real pressure” at a time when 200 international protection applicants are at present without accommodation.
The Minister said he plans to bring proposals to Cabinet in the new year to secure greater amounts of State-owned international protection accommodation. “We’re overly reliant on private sector providers,” he said.
State-owned accommodation would allow for “better control over the conditions, where we’re able to plan where the accommodation is located around the country, and which represents better value for the taxpayer in terms of the capital investment”.
On the same programme, Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton called on the Government to increase communication to allay people’s fears around immigration and to combat misinformation.
She said she “understood” that people had concerns around immigration.
“But as elected representatives and community leaders, we need to be engaging with people and I think not playing into the playbook of the far right in relation to mistruths and lies that that have been spread ... We have a responsibility to engage with people absolutely address their concerns.”
Ms Naughton also spoke of the importance in highlighting the positive contributions made by migrants to Irish society.
“This country wouldn’t function. If you go into our hospital in Galway, UHG, the number of nurses, doctors, care workers, who were born outside Ireland, who are listening to this morning, getting up to work, bringing their children to school, listening to this narrative. I think this instils fear for many migrants people across this country,” Ms Naughton said.
“You go into our hospitality sector, our multinationals here in Galway – many of them are migrants, many of them highly skilled people who are helping to keep our country running and we need to be very careful in relation to the language that we use,” she said.
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