This morning we heard of another blaze at a building where protests have been taking place in recent days. The cause of the fire has not yet officially been identified. However, the building in question, a former nursing home named after St Brigid, has been rendered useless to anyone.
Nobody wins when such buildings are burned. The resources of hard pressed emergency services have been needlessly and fruitlessly depleted. Those seeking International Protection in our country have a right to safety while their application is being examined.
The total community in which such buildings stand is branded, by such actions, with racism and with anti–immigrant sentiment, and their place becomes a household name. The integrity and the stability of such a community are endangered by these needless actions.
History shows us that we in Ireland are no strangers to emigration or to the need to be received as graciously and as helpfully as possible wherever we have arrived across the world in order to make a fresh start. Communities throughout our country across the centuries have flourished as a result of the arrival of people from different backgrounds and cultures.
Our thoughts are very much with the community of Crooksling, Brittas at this time.