MARTIN ADMITS

Micheal Martin says ‘no easy answer’ to migration issues and blasts ‘unacceptable’ Galway hotel blaze comments

Cllr Noel Thomas said ‘the inn is full’ and Ireland shouldn’t take any more migrants

• Published: 6:00, 20 Dec 2023

TANAISTE Micheal Martin has predicted that migration will be a very dominant issue on the EU agenda next year as he admitted: “There are no easy answers on this.”

It comes as the Fianna Fail leader blasted two of his party’s local councillors for “unacceptable” comments made in the aftermath of a hotel in Galway that was due to be used to house asylum seekers being set on fire.

Gardai suspect the blaze at Ross Lake House hotel – where 70 asylum seekers were due to stay – was an arson attack.

Following the attack, two Fianna Fail councillors criticised the Government’s policy on migration.

Cllr Noel Thomas said “the inn is full” and Ireland shouldn’t take any more migrants, while Cllr Seamus Walsh claimed that if the fire was criminal damage then it was prompted by senseless government policy.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin phoned Cllr Thomas and tried to contact Cllr Walsh but was unable to – however, party officials have since spoken to him.

The two councillors are currently going through a process following which they could be reprimanded for their comments.

The Tanaiste said: “As Eamon O’Cuiv has said – the deputy who I think as led very strongly from the front in respect of our TD in Galway – there was room at the inn.

“There was a facility there that was empty and that would have been in a positive to take people in.

“I do not agree with what those councillors have said. I take strong issue with the nuisance and the implications of what they said.

He also claimed the councillors’ statements were “absolutely unacceptable” and hit out at any attempt to link migration with criminality.

On the wider issue of migration, the Tanaiste admitted that the government needs to do a better job in communicating to the public.

He admitted that people have fears about the issue and the Government needs to do more to ease these concerns.

He said that migration will continue to be an issue into 2024 as he predicted it will become a dominant topic in the EU.

He said: “There is no easy answers to this. I do accept the point that there is growing concerns.

“Outside of a particular viewpoint, there is broader concerns. People are worried about capacity and so on but on the other hand, I think we really have to be very clear on fundamental principles that must apply.

“No one can take the law into their own hands, blockading is wrong, physically destroying buildings is obviously a crime and we need as a society to maintain our cohesion and keep a balance.

“And government has a role in communicating those basic principles to the public and working with people and engaging with people in respect of the broader question of migration.

Other countries have made all sorts of different promises and declarations which when you analyse it in the cold light of day haven’t been very effective or successful either.

“This will require constant work in terms of broader migration policy and we have tightened up checks at airports and so in terms of people destroying documentation.”