Varadkar: Protests should be peaceful and never involve hatred or racism

The Taoiseach has said that protests should be “peaceful” and should not involve hatred or racism directed towards any group of people.

Leo Varadkar made the comments following an incident outside a shelter for migrants in Ballymun, Dublin.

Videos emerged over the weekend of a crowd of people outside a building in Ballymun where families were living, chanting “get them out”, with one person holding a sign saying “Ireland is full”.

Speaking on Wednesday evening, Mr Varadkar said: “I think it’s very important that communities are consulted, but I think it’s very important, as well, that any protest is peaceful and that there should be no hatred or racism directed towards any people under any circumstances.

“We are dealing with an unprecedented situation in the world at the moment. We welcomed 70,000 people from Ukraine, people who are fleeing war.

“About 40,000 people we welcomed into Ireland from outside of Europe because we’ve given them work permits and work visa because we need them to run our public services and to keep our economy strong.

“We also have a larger number than would have been in the past coming here seeking international protection.

“It would have been 3,000 or 4,000 in most years. That has now gone up a lot. It was 14,000 last year, and that is putting pressure on the system, certainly the difficulty finding accommodation.”

Mr Varadkar also said there were ongoing discussions at Government level about bringing in more robust measures to deter illegal arrivals into Ireland.

“I think one thing we would definitely need to do, we were speaking about this at the Cabinet meeting earlier, is make sure that decisions are made about those applications much more quickly,” Mr Varadkar added.

“So that if somebody is a genuine refugee, and they’re entitled to international protection, that they get it.

“Some of the things that we’ll examine over the next couple of weeks is how we can make sure that we have more appropriate and more robust border controls to make sure that people aren’t able to enter the country illegally because the vast majority of people come here from overseas do so legally and that’s absolutely right, but those who don’t we have to protect against that.”

Tanaiste Micheal Martin said he has a “strong issue” with people protesting outside facilities that are housing families.

He said that many people have left Ireland in the past.

“We should also be conscious of the human impact of such protests on children who are witnessing this and it’s something I have an issue with,” Mr Martin added.

“When it comes to protests outside where people are living, I think that crosses a line.”

Earlier, Minister for Justice Simon Harris rejected referring to them as “protests”.

“We’ve to be very careful calling these protests. In my mind, that’s not what they are,” he added.

“In my mind, when people turn up outside a building that is providing temporary shelter to people, including women and children, and start saying things like, ‘shout to get them out, out, out, out’, that’s not a protest, in my view. In my view, that’s intimidation.

“In my view, it is not in any way, shape or form reflective of the communities in which these accommodation facilities are in.”

Mr Harris praised Dublin Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy, a Ballymun native, for showing “excellent leadership on this”.

“She very clearly and articulately made the point about, of course, the importance of working with communities; the importance of keeping communities informed, of course; the importance of providing information, but not allowing anybody to hijack the viewpoints of a community.”

Ms Conroy said the scenes were “embarrassing” and “upsetting”, and she believed the protests had been orchestrated, adding: “It’s not what we’re about in Ballymun.”

“It is a statement of the blinding obvious that there are certain individuals who travel from one part of our country to the next part of our country to the next part of our country,” added Mr Harris.

He said he was aware that gardai are taking these matters “very seriously”.

“As Minister of Justice, my primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of all individuals in this country and that includes safety of people who have come here seeking refuge under the international protection agreement.”

Mr Harris said that in response to the 70,000 people from Ukraine who have arrived in Ireland since last February, communities have “embraced” them and held demonstrations in solidarity.

“I think there’s a balance to this. I’m not willing to go down a road where I suggest that the so-called protests are in any way reflective of the broader scenario,” he said.

The minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is overseeing the Justice portfolio while Helen McEntee is on maternity leave.