Ireland: Police Investigate After Hotel Due to House Invaders Burns Down

It’s starting to feel like the tide has turned.

It’s starting to feel like the Irish are back.

BBC:

A fire, which broke out at a hotel in County Galway on Saturday night, is being investigated as a criminal damage incident by gardaí (Irish police).

It started at the Ross Lake House hotel, in Rosscahill, at around 23:35 local time before being brought under control by fire services.

No one was in the hotel at the time – the site has not been in use for a number of years.

It had been due to accommodate 70 asylum seekers this week and protesters were at the site earlier on Saturday, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar condemned the incident and said there was “no justification for violence, arson or vandalism in our Republic”.

In a statement, he said those carrying such crimes are a “very small minority”, adding that “the response from many communities has been incredible”.

The Ross Lake, which is in private ownership, had been offered a one-year contract to house international protection applicants.

Protesters had gathered to form a blockade at the entrance of the hotel in opposition to government plans to house the asylum seekers on the premises from Thursday.

To be clear, I’m of course very opposed to hotel burnings and so on.

I don’t support it. I condemn all hotel burnings. In fact, I think burning down a hotel is one of the worst possible crimes anyone could ever commit.

Hotels are the core center of our culture.

There is no crime more evil than burning a hotel.

Without hotels, how will we live?

What I can say, however, is that I understand why they did it.