Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too condemn the burning of any buildings or properties belonging to anyone. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. There are no two ways about it. Any right-minded man or woman would not support that kind of action.

Of course, then, our own local people are very angry because if they opened their mouths and asked any questions, they were deemed to be racist. I refer to the people on the Muckross Road who held a very silent protest and then convened a meeting in the East Avenue hotel, which was attended by over 300 people. All those people asked for at that meeting was that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, or someone from his team, would go down and meet them. They failed to do that. Some 77 men were landed in alongside a 90-year-old woman, whom everyone worried about because no one knew where these people were coming from or anything.

The honest truth of it is that Garda cars are there regularly outside this building. It is not a good sight. People are very angry. The other item people are worried about is that they feel that refugees are getting better treatment than themselves. To give one example, a person renting a house will get €800, tax-free, if he or she rents it to Ukrainians. That is fine, do that, but give it to the local people as well. Give them the same tax exemption and the same acknowledgement. They are looking for houses too and they are homeless as well, many of them.

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