Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am disgusted at the recent arson attacks. Attacks like these are devastating for a community to witness and they do not reflect the feelings of a community, only the hate of a handful of individuals. These individuals claim to care about the safety of a community, while, at the same time, they are burning its buildings to the ground. The only thing these people care about is spreading hate and igniting violence. The justification of their actions as being in a community’s interest is disgraceful and disingenuous because the people burning down local buildings are not the people involved in Tidy Towns or community council meetings each week. They are not the people packing bags or standing with collection buckets for local clubs or charities, and they are certainly not the people running local support groups, youth groups, community kitchens, food banks or parish quizzes. Many are not even from the communities they seek to divide and the claim that they are acting for the good of that community while they undo the work of many great and genuine community workers is an insult. It is likely these community workers will be left to clean up the mess of arson attacks and face the consequences of such hate and violence. It is important to remember that the cost of such a clean-up will come out of the pocket of the council and, as a result, the community.

I hope that acts like these empower communities to stand up against hate and violence. Communities across Ireland and County Donegal have rallied against acts of violence and hate towards asylum seekers and have come together in support of people coming in and the diversity that they bring. The Government needs to support communities in doing this. Its approach to these attacks has been completely inadequate and has done nothing to challenge those who fan the flames of unjust hatred. The Government needs to provide increased supports for asylum seekers and the communities hosting them, but it also needs to start acting on anti-immigration sentiment, which has now risen to dangerous levels, driven by just a few people. Attacks such as these cannot be tolerated and the perpetrators of such violence and of hate speech need to be targeted and monitored. Hate crimes need to be addressed and treated seriously. We need to take a strong stand against division and reject the hate of those who seek to endanger our communities with violent arson attacks.

Somebody spoke earlier about the population of the country in the 19th century. That is a fact. If we did not have the Famine in the 1840s, the population of Ireland today would probably be 25 million to 30 million. How can we say Ireland is full? It is disingenuous and it is lies but it is made to suit a political agenda to sow division and hatred in our communities, targeted at the most vulnerable, that is, people who come here for protection. We let those people down by doing that. Unfortunately, the State is not taking an active enough role in dealing with it. Maybe it is belatedly coming to the table now and the Garda are starting to respond to it but I know of stuff reported to the Garda and little if any investigation has ever taken place. That is wrong and should not be tolerated. We need to be strong and to stand up to this.

The Government needs to start showing leadership on this issue by addressing the needs of communities, who are resilient and who have shown time and time again that they are willing to come together and overcome these attempted divisions. By standing together, we can overcome them but that means standing with everybody, including asylum seekers.

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