Why is Ballaghaderreen back in the news?
Locals in the small Co Roscommon town say they have had enough of what they say are skyrocketing crime rates and a severe lack of gardaí. Last Sunday hundreds of residents held a candlelight vigil in the town to highlight the issue.
On Tuesday Sinn Féin TD and local resident Claire Kerrane used her speaking time in the Dáil to tell Taoiseach Simon Harris “there is a level of fear in the community” due to rising crime rates.
Garda Headquarters has conceded that resources in Ballaghadrreen Garda station have been reduced in recent months but says one sergeant and four gardaí are assigned to the town. Kerrane said they are not visible on the ground.
What has brought this to a head?
Anger has been building for a while, much of it relating to low-level offending including shoplifting and public-order offences.
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This reached boiling point last week following an incident involving two minors at a disused property in the town in the early hours of Friday. Gardaí are investigating an allegation that one youth, from a non-Irish background, sexually assaulted the other. The focus of the Garda investigation is whether the interaction was consensual or not.
Rumour of the incident spread quickly through the town and became distorted in the retelling.
Gardaí have said these are wild distortions of what is actually being investigated and that the suspect and his family are not refugees or international protection applicants.
[ ‘Everyone is friendly’: Ballaghaderreen and the refugee crisisOpens in new window ]
Does anti-immigrant sentiment play a role in the latest demonstrations?
The organisers of last week’s protest insist it does not and that the issue is the need for more gardaí and more resources. Ballaghaderreen has a population of 2,400, of which 39 per cent are foreign nationals. Locals say these newcomers have been warmly welcomed but that promises by Government of more resources such as school places and doctors to meet the increased demand have not materialised.
The incident has attracted the attention of prominent far-right agitators who spread false information about the involvement of immigrants in crime. Self-styled citizen journalist Philip Dwyer attended last Sunday’s protest. He was told in no uncertain terms by locals that he was not welcome.
So is the anti-immigrant sentiment solely from the outside?
Not entirely. While many locals insist the issue is not about immigration and that extremists from outside the town are not welcome, some have expressed explicit anti-immigrant views. The Facebook page of Ballaghaderreen Concerned Citizens, which organised last week’s march, has also shared posts from far-right accounts. Opinions on immigration in the town remain divided but everyone agrees that it needs far more from Government to handle its growing population.
