Sir, – Co Galway Fianna Fáil councillors Séamus Walsh and Noel Thomas should be disowned by the Fianna Fáil party for their blatant attempt to shift the blame for the burning down of Ross Lake House hotel from the actions of arsonists on to the “senseless policy of the Government” and “that fear for the safety and wellbeing of their families drove people to this”(News, December 18th).
These comments will no doubt garner local votes in the foreseeable future but in the process they are fostering and inflaming irrational anti-immigrant sentiments. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Drumcondra,
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Dublin 9.
Sir , – Are we going back to 1922 by burning big houses for narrow political purposes? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McCULLAGH,
Ballinasloe.
Sir, – If the arsonists who torched Ross Lake House hotel, in order to prevent its use as a refugee centre, care to consult the website, Oughterard Heritage, they will see that the building was previously known as Killaguile House, after the townland on which it stands, and that Killaguile is an anglicised version of the Irish “Cill an Ghaill” – thought to mean “Church of the Foreigner.”
But perhaps irony isn’t their strong point. – Yours, etc,
KILLIAN O’ DONNELL,
Cashel,
Co Galway.
A chara, – It must be said that it’s blatantly obvious the Department of Integration has still not “got it” in relation to the placing of international protection refugees in small communities around the country.
Do they expect people to believe the department chooses a building such as the Rosscahill hotel on a Thursday, and sends an email on a Friday? The “consultation” needs to be initiated much earlier, and a cack-handed approach will do nothing to alleviate the fears and concerns of people around the country. – Is mise,
PETER DECLAN O’HALLORAN,
Co Cavan.
