Posted by 
FIANNA FIRE
Cops search politicians’ homes in Galway arson attack probe as plea to Mayo locals over ‘fear mongering’ protesters
‘I will never while there is breath in me cooperate with the guards on anything’
- Published: 18:41, 7 Jan 2024
- Updated: 18:41, 7 Jan 2024
FIANNA Fail councillors’ homes were searched as gardai probed an arson attack on a hotel which was due to house asylum seekers.
Gardai carried out searches at the homes of Noel Thomas and Seamus Walsh on Saturday as they continue to investigate the blaze at the Ross Lake House Hotel in Roscahill, near Oughterard in Galway, in mid-December.
Some 70 refugees were due to stay at the disused building.
It follows a number of attacks on other such places earmarked for international protection applicants across the country.
Officers from the Galway Divisional Crime Unit, supported by the National Bureau of Crime Investigation, banged on doors and windows at four properties at 6am on Saturday – including the politicians’.
The pair confirmed they were quizzed by gardai, while Cllr Thomas said his Moycullen home was “ransacked” and his phone was seized.
READ MORE IN IRISH NEWS
Tanaiste Micheal Martin had spoken to Cllr Thomas in the aftermath of the fire, as the councillor had said Ireland should stop accepting asylum seekers because “the inn is full”.
Cllr Thomas did say that he did not condone the attack.
On the garda search, he told the Irish Independent: “It’s a joke. The question I want to ask is: where is this coming from?
”Imagine what it’s like having these lads coming in rooting in your house?”
Cllr Walsh meanwhile told the publication: “You wouldn’t see it on Love/Hate or Kin.
“They went through every room and every drawer. They took every electronic device.
“They could have come at any time of the day and would have been well treated, but I resent them coming at 6am.
“I will never while there is breath in me cooperate with the guards on anything.
“My wife is some woman, she has been with me 43 years and she is well used to me and politics but this broke her. She burst out crying.”
Gardai said items had been seized and were sent for analysis “which will determine the next stages of the investigation”.
Some 229 tasks have been carried out and 145 statements have been taken by officers to date.
Mayo protests
Meanwhile, locals in a Mayo town have been urged to oppose “fear mongering” protesters who demonstrated outside another hotel which was set to house asylum seekers.
The former JJ Gannon’s hotel on the Main Street in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo saw a large protest outside its doors on Friday after it emerged 50 international protection applicants were meant to be placed there from today.
But local Fine Gael councillor Michael Burke claimed on Saturday that the lease had been withdrawn following a protest.
United Against Racism Mayo has since condemned the “fear mongering of a tiny minority of locals” and “outside far right agitators” and asked the people of Ballinrobe to oppose the “campaign of hate and fear”.
It said in a statement: “We only have to look at our own history to be reminded of how racist tropes and fear mongering was used against Irish migrants fleeing poverty, famine and brutal oppression to seek a better life abroad.
Of all people the Irish have a moral responsibility to help others in desperate need coming to our society today.
“The housing crisis is the root cause of this anger towards refugees and migrants and can only be solved by building a mass movement on the streets to force the government to deal with it.
“We call on local people in Ballinrobe to join the National Housing and Homelessness Coalition.
“This shameful protest does not represent the views of the majority of members of the Ballinrobe Community. We stand in solidarity with all who may be feeling unwelcome due to a minority spreading hate and division.”
Who Watches the Watchers? 