Galway Fianna Fáil councillor Noel Thomas has said that he has had no communication from the party about disciplinary action or an investigation into his comments about plans to accommodate asylum seekers at the Ross Lake Hotel in Rosscahill, Co Galway.
Mr Thomas told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the only information he had received about such action was via the media.
His last communication with the Tánaiste had been on Sunday night when they had a long conversation.
“What we wanted to clarify was, was whether I had condemned the actions of the building being burned that night. And they stated very clearly that, of course, I had.
"Actually what I said was any sane person, of course, that's all they could do, was condemn the actions that happened that night, and then it went from there.
“Basically, I said I'm not happy with what he Micheál Martin is doing to this country at the moment. And he stated he was not happy with what I was saying to that. That was the gist of the conversation.”
Mr Thomas said he had received “zero communication” from Fianna Fáil since that conversation on Sunday night. He repeated his concern about “cramming” four people into a room in a hotel that was not in an urban setting. That was inhumane and did not provide a way for people to integrate into the community.
“So when I say the inn is full, it is full because of irresponsible open border policies that this government have had in place.
"What happened was we got a flood of people coming in all of a sudden. Now the majority of those, as far as I'm concerned, were not people who were fleeing war torn countries, war torn areas, I should say. Because what happened then is all of our accommodation was filled.
"Then we're in a situation now, unfortunately for the genuine people who are really in trouble and need our help, we don't have any place to bring them.”
Mr Thomas also dismissed comments from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris about the lack of communication with An Garda Síochána about plans to accommodate asylum seekers at the Ross Lake Hotel. “His own members don’t have much faith in him.”
The leaders of the country had a legal obligation to “look after our country first” he said when asked about Ireland’s obligations under international rules and regulations to care for asylum seekers.
When asked if he was going to stay in the Fianna Fáil party, Cllr Thomas said he hoped so. “To be honest with you, I think I am much more entitled to my place in the Fianna Fáil party than the likes of Micheál Martin is.”
