Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that there will be arrests over recent arson attacks on accommodation earmarked for asylum seekers.
There have been almost 20 attacks or threats of violence on accommodation for asylum seekers in total since 2018, with about half of them having occurred in 2023.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Varadkar said gardaí anticipate there will be arrests made in relation to the attacks.
“There are a number of Garda investigations under way. There have been people questioned and searches have been carried out,” Mr Varadkar said.
His comments come following increasing tensions and arson attacks on proposed accommodation centres for asylum seekers.
On Thursday, it emerged that a disused convent in Co Longford will no longer be used as a centre for Ukrainian refugees following an attempted arson attack this week.
Lanesboro Convent was targeted on Tuesday night by suspected anti-immigrant protesters who used accelerant to start the fire.
Longford Fire Brigade doused the flames quickly and there was little damage done to the convent, which is in the middle of the town.
The Longford attack is the latest in a string of attacks and vandalism on accommodation centres. At the beginning of the new year, arsonists destroyed the disused Shipwright pub in Ringsend, south Dublin, after it was falsely linked to asylum seekers.
Two weeks earlier, Ross Lake House hotel in Rosscahill, Galway, which had been earmarked for asylum seekers, was largely destroyed by a fire. During the riots in the capital in November, two premises previously used to house asylum seekers were attacked.
Mr Varadkar said he remained concerned that someone could be killed in an arson attack on a building that is due to accommodate asylum seekers.
"I’ve a real worry that an arson attack might occur in a building that has somebody inside it.
"People who are carrying out these attacks just don’t know that for sure and I’m really fearful that a tragedy like that will happen," Mr Varadkar said.
The Taoiseach also insisted that Ireland was not a racist country or that the political climate had changed in response to the arrival of more than 100,000 refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine, though he did accept there is “rising concern” about migration in the country.
“Some of that is understandable and legitimate concerns. That shouldn’t be dismissed,” Mr Varadkar said.
“In some cases it's not, in some cases there’s an element of racism to it, quite frankly.”
However, he admitted that the issue has been “rising for quite some time”, saying that it hadn’t changed in Ireland overnight.
“I don’t think by any means Ireland is a racist country. The vast majority of people in Ireland are willing to judge people by the content of their character, to see them as individuals not as a group," he said.
