Fianna Fáil councillors blame Government policies on Galway hotel fire

Kenneth Fox

Fianna Fáil councillor for Connemarra North, Séamus Walsh has blamed the government's policies on a suspected arson attack on the Ross Lake House hotel in Galway on Saturday.

No one was inside the building at the time. However, 70 asylum seekers were due to move into the hotel this week – plans that had been facing some local opposition.

As the Irish Examiner reports, Cllr Walsh said though the cause of the blaze is currently unknown, no-one could condone criminal damage, saying: “We have to stand back and look at it, and if it was a criminal act, what made that criminal act happen, and it’s this senseless policy of the Government.

"People are living in fear, and if it was done maliciously, it is absolutely the fear for the safety and wellbeing of their families that drove people to this."

Mr Walsh attended a protest at the hotel on Friday and gave an interview to RTÉ, in which he insisted that local people were "afraid of what they will encounter from now on with every sort of stranger in the area."

Speaking on Galway Bay FM on Sunday, he said Oughterard, Rosscahill, and Maam Cross “have taken their fair share of immigrants” and said: “We are good to the people that are here, but we cannot be scapegoated. We cannot be used as a holding tank. It’s just not right what’s being done to us."

He insisted that the former hotel is not a suitable location for housing international protection applicants, and said the amenities, services, and road network just aren’t adequate.

“The people aren’t able to take it, the people cannot cope with it, the people don’t want it,” he said.

Fellow Fianna Fáil Cllr Noel Thomas told Virgin Media News: “There's no regulation in relation to how people are being brought into the country, and unfortunately people are just fed up with it. They've had enough, and now they're starting to come out and show that.

"People are coming out now in numbers to stand strong and barricade places off like this and you're going to see an awful lot more of that."

On Sunday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar hit-out at the alleged perpetrators of the fire, saying there was no justification for the act.

He added: "Even with robust border controls, extra checks at airports, faster processing times, and record numbers of refusals, like much of the world we are dealing with a major step-change in the numbers arriving here, seeking protection.

"This is driven by war, poverty, climate change, and human rights abuses in their home countries.

“I want to assure people we have a rules-based system and are processing applications in record time."