Trudder site is now accommodating asylum seekers after protest – minister

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Asylum seekers are being accommodated in the area in which gardaí recently clashed with protesters, the Integration Minister has said.

Roderic O’Gorman said “a number” of international protection applicants had started living at the Trudder site in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, in the past few days.

It comes after several people were arrested during clashes with public order gardaí during a protest at the site last week.

Gardaí said they came under attack after a protest last Thursday descended into violence later in the evening.

The trouble flared after workers contracted to carry out construction work on the former HSE facility attempted to enter the site, identified by the Department of Integration as a potential accommodation option for international protection applicants.

Gardaí said they “used force to defend themselves”, including the use of pepper spray, as part of an “escalated response” to the violence.

Three Garda patrol cars were damaged and fires were set.

Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One radio programme on Wednesday, Mr O’Gorman said: “People are entitled to protest. People are entitled to disagree with Government policy but that has to be done within the law.”

He said some protesters at Trudder “stepped way beyond the line” by attacking gardaí.