Protesters have camped outside a former B&B in Fermoy since Monday, threatening to blockade the premises if 56 people seeking refugee status are moved in.
A petrol bomb was allegedly thrown at the wall there this week and gardaí are investigating the incident.
However, protesters at the camp said that they rushed to extinguish the small fire and protect the building, formerly Abbeyville House B&B, a landmark period detached residence opposite the park in Fermoy.
Some locals claim that protecting that building is their sole motivation for protesting, saying they have concerns that housing 56 people in the listed structure with six people per bedroom could damage the building.
Others say they are concerned that already stretched services in the town, including doctors, will not be able to cope with another 56 people. Many say they are scared of 56 men coming into the neighbourhood.
Some locals say they are scared of 56 men coming into the neighbourhood. Picture: Larry Cummins
Fear of “undocumented men” has been stoked by far-right and nationalist voices online and at protests for many months.
Derek Blighe, a divisive anti-immigrant, far-right activist who lives in the neighbouring town of Mitchelstown, has been present at the camp.
Mayor of Cork County Cllr Frank O’Flynn apologised for any offence he may have caused after he appeared to publicly support calls from Mr Blighe for a blockade of the property.
Mayor of Cork County Cllr Frank O’Flynn apologised for any offence after he appeared to publicly support calls for a blockade of the property. Picture: Brian Lougheed
The long-serving Fianna Fáil councillor also moved to distance himself from the far-right movement in the wave of fresh criticism, in the wake of Thursday night’s riots in Dublin, of his decision to attend a public meeting in Fermoy last week which was addressed by Mr Blighe.
“I do not stand with or alongside the far-right movement, or any persons who represent this position,” Mr O’Flynn told the Irish Examiner today.
He did not respond to questions about whether he could continue to attend county council events promoting inclusion and diversity, or if he would consider his position.
The Cork Rebels for Peace group condemned the mayor, and several other local county councillors, for associating with Mr Blighe, the founder of Ireland First, who has spoken at several anti-immigrant protests, and who has attended several protests at libraries over LGBTQ+ reading material.
The street meeting was held last week outside the property on Fermoy’s St James’ Place.
Addressing the gathering of between 20 and 30 people, Mr O’Flynn said he had no problem with Ukrainians or asylum-seeker families coming to Fermoy, but he did have concerns about single male asylum seekers being accommodated in such centres.
When Mr Blighe asked Mr O’Flynn to say whether he would be willing to join in a blockade outside the building to stop asylum seekers entering the premises. Mr O’Flynn twice said “no problem”.
In the wake of Thursday’s riots in Dublin, which Garda Commissioner Drew Harris blamed on a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology”, Mr O’Flynn and the other councillors faced criticism from the Cork Rebels for Peace group for associating with individuals who have been involved in anti-immigrant protests in Cork.
Kate O’Connell, Fermoy resident and member of the group Fermoy and Mallow Against Division, said fear and misinformation about asylum seekers now bubbling up in Fermoy exactly mirrors the fear and misinformation spread when more than 100 asylum seekers moved into St Joseph’s, a disused convent in Fermoy last year.
Success for town
That move has been a success for the town. One year later, those people are working in businesses and sectors starved of staff, they are contributing to the local community, and their children are in schools and sports clubs.
“People have very short memories because the same narratives are appearing again,” Ms O’Connell said. “We’re pleading to the community to tap back into that memory. We were told these lies before. Now we have the same actors again, coming around again, telling us the same message again.
“But this time people seem to be falling for it, because it’s coming on the back of this sustained campaign of misinformation.”
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue published two recent reports highlighting a sustained campaign of misinformation in Ireland, orchestrated by the far right.
“That’s been pushing this narrative around migrant men and trying to draw a link between migrant men and sexual violence and criminality. But there’s absolutely no evidence base for that,” Ms O’Connell said.
Crime statistics have been really clear that there’s no link between direct provision centres and any rise in crime in any town. So a huge element of this is fear and misinformation and it’s the same agitator we had in town previously and it’s the same campaign of misinformation.
She said the building had not functioned as a B&B for years and the best way of maintaining it was using it, rather than letting it fall into vacancy and dereliction.
She said that if stretched resources were really people’s concern, men would be a much smaller drain on GPs, dentists, and schools than if women or children moved to the area.
Multiple businesses have been forced to close in the town due to lack of staff, and people forget that asylum seekers bring much-needed skills and labour into communities, she said.
“I think people are imagining those who are coming in as a drain on resources rather than seeing what they bring into a community,” she said.
As for arguments that the men would be living in cramped conditions, she said multiple people per room was the norm in such accommodation and if they did not come to Fermoy, they would likely be in tents.
“We’re in the Christmas period and people are again saying ‘there’s no room in the inn’.”
Fear ‘palpable’
Fear is now palpable in the town, one local councillor said.
Fine Gael Cllr Noel McCarthy, who lives in Fermoy, said he has supported refugees coming to the town but that the old B&B cannot reasonably support 56 people.
“I’d have no problem if the number was reduced to 20 or 25 people,” he said.
We haven’t been officially told this is happening and people are on edge. I’ve never had so many people coming to me concerned over an issue.
Protesters have camped outside the building day and night, huddled over tea and sustained by a heater as the temperature drops.
Eight women gathered at the tent on Friday, a large sign saying ‘Fermoy Family and Community First’ propped up nearby.
One protester, Anthony Cody, said packing 56 people into the building was inviting trouble, with frustrations inevitably growing when people were in cramped conditions.
Anthony Cody and Jamie Noonan at the Fermoy protest. Picture: Larry Cummins
The group has vowed to block all entrances to the building if efforts are made to move refugees in.
However, Mr Cody denied that he is racist or that the protest is in any way racially motivated.
He said that a big concern is “undocumented men” coming to the town in such numbers that local Garda forces would not be able to effectively police.
Although he agreed that Ireland has a humanitarian duty to help people fleeing war and persecution, he asked: “Where does it end?”
“We have got people driving past, calling us racists and Nazis. But just stop and have a conversation is all I ask of those people and you’ll quickly find out we’re not racist at all,” he said.
“I myself am half-Irish and my dad is Indian. I don’t have any ill feelings towards any race; I just don’t agree with the immigration policy of our country at the moment.
“A lot of the ladies here, some of them are very stressed over what’s going on. It’s the fear of the unknown really at the moment,” he said.
He said the protest has received support from multiple local councillors and many local residents.
People beeped their horns in passing cars and one female passenger opened her window and clapped at the protesters as she passed by, he said. One elderly man came from across town to sign their petition.
Angry and scared
Mr Cody said he disagreed with the violence sparked in Dublin this week and he said that the Fermoy protest would remain peaceful. But people are now angry and scared.
“I don’t agree with what’s going on in Dublin now but the only thing I’ll say is if you back us into a corner, eventually people are going to break.”
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth confirmed that Abbeyville House is being assessed as a possible accommodation centre.
“IPAS is responding to an offer of accommodation made in respect of the Abbeyville House, Fermoy, Co Cork,” a statement said.
“A full assessment of the property is underway at present, and, if a contract is agreed, it is hoped that this property can be brought into use.
“Capacity and configuration will not be confirmed until a contract has been agreed, however, the provider has submitted a proposal for the capacity to be circa 56 persons.”
Ireland is now accommodating more than 100,260 people between those fleeing Ukraine and International Protection applicants.
This compares with over 8,575 at the end of February 2022. This includes more than 74,515 Ukrainian people who have sought accommodation from the State and over 25,740 International Protection applicants currently in IPAS accommodation.
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