No one has the right to veto who lives in their community, the Taoiseach has warned.
Leo Varadkar’s comments came in response to a series of recent protests at buildings in various parts of the country earmarked to house asylum seekers.
There have also been arson attacks on several building proposed as accommodation locations for international protection applicants.
On Friday, a protest was held outside a hotel in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo over plans to use the premises to house 50 adult male asylum seekers.
Asked about the scenes in Ballinrobe, Mr Varadkar told RTÉ: “I totally acknowledge that people living there have concerns and have fears.
“It’s important that we have information and communication, that people’s fears are allayed, that any information they need is given.
“But I also need to be very clear – nobody in a free society, nobody in a democracy has the right to veto, a right to exercise a veto on who moves into their area or their community.
“And that doesn’t just apply to international protection. It applies to Traveller accommodation, that applies to women’s refuges, which people used to object to before, it applies to social housing and to student accommodation.”
One of Mr Varadkar's party colleagues, Fine Gael Councillor Michael Burke, has criticised the proposal to use the hotel for international protection applicants.
The Taoiseach said Cllr Burke's stance was not in line with Government policy.
Asked if he faced party discipline, Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael gave its councillors “a lot of leeway” in how they deal with local issues, as long as they do not engage in misinformation or racist language – and he said he did not believe that had been the case in Ballinrobe.
On the recent arson attacks, Mr Varadkar expressed fears that someone might lose their life if the fires continued.
“Arson is a very serious crime, whatever political beliefs people may have, and people are entitled to their political beliefs, nobody has the right to damage or burn down somebody else’s property and nobody has the right to physically harm another person,” he said.
“So this is a serious crime and I do expect that there will be arrests and prosecutions. And I want to express a concern – people vandalising buildings, setting them alight, they can’t know for sure that there isn’t somebody in that building.”
He added: “And I have a real concern that not only will we face a situation whereby we’re investigating arson, that we may yet be investigating manslaughter or murder.”
On the general debate around immigration and asylum seekers in the State, Mr Varadkar said the Government faced a challenge in the year ahead to take charge of the conversation.
“There are a lot of myths that are being spread, initially by the far right, but now unfortunately have become quite mainstream, and are repeated now even by mainstream politicians and mainstream journalists,” he said.
“And we have a big job of work to do this year as a government in being in charge of this debate and making sure that people get the right information.
“Because one thing that I think is really important to say is that, in the round, immigration and migration for Ireland has been a good thing.”
