Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to raise the shocking and inexcusable events that happened on Sandwith Street over the weekend. Obviously, there is no doubt that we should all unreservedly condemn attacks on homeless and vulnerable asylum seekers. We should be clear - from talking to people in the locality, it is absolutely clear - that politically motivated far-right activists were down in the area actively spreading false rumours, stirring up fears and ratcheting up the aggression and threats against the asylum seekers in the encampment. We must absolutely oppose that divisive, hate-filled racism. It is especially tragic that it could happen when we consider the decades and decades of racist discrimination Irish people suffered, of the "no dogs, no blacks and no Irish" kind, in the United States, Britain and elsewhere. We should therefore be clear in condemning this situation.

I must be honest, however, and say that a considerable amount of the responsibility for the situation which developed over the weekend, and other situations, lies at the door of this and successive Governments. First, it is responsible for leaving hundreds of people homeless and living in tents when the State has an obligation to provide them with somewhere to live. Second, it is responsible for failing to deal for over a decade with the dire housing and homelessness crisis and the scandal of tens of thousands of vacant and derelict properties which could be refurbished to address this crisis and to provide housing for all.

In particular, I was struck by the conversations I had with people from the flats in the Pearse Street area. They were appalled by what was done but said that insofar as the far right gained certain traction for its poisonous and divisive ideas, it was because of years and years of neglect of that area. Right beside the encampment, for example, lies St. Andrew's Court, where locals were de-tenanted in 2019. There have been years of promises to refurbish St. Andrew's Court for social housing but, five years later, a Government with a record budget surplus and a €1 billion underspend on housing has not yet approved the money to refurbish that location.

The people to whom I spoke pointed out that at the same time as Twitter is right beside them talking about diversity, they are excluded from employment in these industries. A lot of the stuff that has been built around the area is completely unaffordable for locals. Increasingly, they feel totally excluded and under pressure, and believe there has been an agenda to drive the local community out. That is being done because of the failures of Government and because of processes of gentrification and not, of course, because of refugees. The Government leaves the door open for that kind of thing, and for the far right and its poison, if it fails to deal with the deprivation, housing problems and dereliction in areas like Pearse Street and many other working-class areas.

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