Roscrea Racket Hall Garda response "backfired" Carol Nolan tells the Dáil

The decision to send the Public Order Unit to tackle protestors at the Racket Hall Hotel in Roscrea "backfired" Deputy Carol Nolan told the Dáil during a discussion on immigration yesterday evening.

Laois/Offaly independent TD and member of the rural independents group, Deputy Carol Nolan addressed the Dáil's session for statements on Ireland's efforts to provide accommodation for people seeking protection in Ireland on Tuesday.

Strongly condemning the decision to send the Public Order Unit to Roscrea and the subsequent portrayal of the people of the town on national media, Deputy Nolan said the people of Roscrea were "demonised".

Deputy Nolan said she represents people who work in Roscrea and understands the sense of distress which has engulfed the community.

Roscrea people are "decent people who pay their taxes" she said, adding "it was shameful the way they were treated and demonised in the national media - there's not one bad person who was out there that day".

Commenting on the scenes which unfolded outside the Racket Hall when Gardaí physically engaged with local people in an attempt to disperse the protest, Deputy Nolan said "everything was handled wrong".

"It was done to create the image that the people were wrong, that the community was wrong and I condemn that. It was very wrong what was done to those people.

"Those communities are concerned. Communities are entitled to ask questions - they are entitled to do that", she said, directing her words towards Justice Minister, Helen McEntee.

"The mishandling of that incident was shocking - the RTÉ camera was there to capture it all - so it was choreographed to the greatest detail and I want to condemn that and call it out.

"People do see it for what it was and it certainly backfired", Deputy Nolan said.

"I want to also raise my very serious concerns over the very unsustainable level of immigration into this country. We heard people get up here from the hard left, some of their TDs, and the gullible, naive and reckless statements leave me dumbfounded.

"They seem to think there are no limits on what we can do - of course there's limits on what we can do as a country - we're only one small island, there's only so much we can do. But to continue to bring people in in droves - let them sleep on hotel floors and on the streets and in tents its gone to such a chaotic level.

"It is unfair what's happening. There's only so much we can do and for the hard left TDs to think its ok to throw taxpayers money around like confetti and act in such a reckless fashion by bringing in everybody from across the world - we are not here for the reason of asylum tourism.

Deputy Nolan told Justice Minister Helen McEntee directly that she is "concerned" that fingerprints of people arriving in Ireland are not "being checked against criminal databases". 

"I'm also concerned about our tourism sector being destroyed and all the hotel beds gone out of the system. I have serious concerns and I will continue to raise them", Deputy Nolan said concluding her address.  

ROSCREA PROTEST MARCH

Deputy Nolan visited a demonstration which drew a crowd of over 2,000 people who marched through Roscrea town centre recently and pledged her support to the ongoing protests in Roscrea over the loss of the Racket Hall Hotel.

Deputy Nolan addressed her neighbours in North Tipperary alongside fellow rural independent Mattie McGrath and Deputy Michael Lowry from the plinth outside Lily O'Brien's pub during a large demonstration in Roscrea which attracted over 2,000 people.

Deputy Nolan condemned the use of the Public Order Unit to disperse protestors at the town's only hotel and urged the people of Roscrea to continue their fight for additional resources to cope with the dramatic influx of people now residing in the town.

"I work closely with Mattie McGrath and I represented people from Lower Ormond in 2016 and 2020 and even though I came from over the border I was welcomed in," Deputy Nolan said.

Deputy Nolan said she watched the footage on the news of the Public Order Unit physically engaging with protestors outside the Racket Hall from a hospital bed and was upset by them.

"I can see from the crowd that the spirit of Sean Treacy and Dan Breen lives on here in Roscrea and I'm with you the whole way," she said to cheers from the large crowd on upper Castle Street and Market Square.

"I fought hard in the Dáil, as did Mattie and we were called all sorts of names. I was given a lecture and a wagging finger and was told I was a risk to social cohesion when I asked them to look at the maths and look at the economy and look at all our hotel and tourism industry being destroyed.

"Anybody with a grain of common sense can see that we can't keep taking the numbers in. There's seven in 10 coming in without passports or documentation and no checks. I put a question in during parliamentary questions about fingerprinting and if they are checked against criminal databases.

"No - its checked against two other databases that aren't criminal databases", Deputy Nolan said.

"People are worried and rightly so and I'll stay shouting with my comrade Mattie McGrath in the Dáil and we won't let you down, we'll stay going. 

Deputy Nolan addresses a crowd of over 2,000 people in Roscrea town centre who marched to support the Racket Hall Hotel protestors. Also pictured is Roscrea man and protest organiser, James Gleeson. Photo: PJ Wright

"We brought forward a motion a few weeks ago after Mattie battled for eight months to get it onto the program for the people of Ireland", Deputy Nolan explained, adding that only six other TDs "stood up with us" leaving the motion two short to be eligible for parliamentary debate.

"But we'll stay fighting and we'll stay putting the pressure on - don't back down because you've done nothing wrong, you should be proud of yourselves", Deputy Nolan concluded.

Meanwhile, the protest outside the Racket Hall has moved into its third week with demonstrators maintaining a 24-hour presence at the entrance to the premises.

The hotel, which was the only business of its kind still active in the heritage town, is currently accommodating less than 20 people seeking international protection in Ireland.

The ongoing protest outside the entrance to the premises will reach the three week milestone on Thursday, February 1st.