Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is “not listening” to the public’s immigration concerns, according to a political commentator.
It comes after the Irish leader claimed that nobody has a “right to exercise a veto on who moves into their area or community” in a democracy.
Concerns have been mounting in the country with protests taking place outside the Mayo Hotel in Co Mayo, which has been due to house International Protection applications.
Protesters have demanded assurances from the Department of Integration that plans to house 50 asylum seekers there will not proceed.
Kevin Meagher has hit out at Leo Varadkar
GETTY / GB NEWS
According to Meagher, Varadkar is failing to acknowledge legitimate public concern on the matter with issues such as a housing crisis being exacerbated by the high level of migration into the country.
“What the Irish government is doing is trying to palm off its dispersal policy onto all these small Irish towns across rural Ireland”, he said on GB News.
Leo Varadkar says 'no one has a right' to decide who lives in their area
PA“12 per cent of Irish hotel rooms at the moment are taken out of capacity because of asylum seekers and what have you.
“There’s whole areas of Ireland for tourism reasons you can’t even get to anymore.
“These people are saying, ‘enough is enough, it’s having a really bad effect on us’.
“Ireland is in the grip of a major housing crisis, there are not enough houses and there’s very high rents, very high house prices.
“All these issues are collapsing together and people are saying’ve’ve had enough’ and it’s at that point of there is no democratic consent for the scale and the pace of migration that Ireland is dealing with.”
Varadkar said he “acknowledges” that people local to the hotel have concerns and fears and communication must be provided as a result.
Speaking on RTE, he said: “Nobody in a free society, nobody in a democracy has a right to exercise a veto on who moves into their area or community. That doesn't just apply to international protection."
The Taoiseach added that the country is “firm and tough” on those who arrive illegally.
He argued there are a lot of myths being spread and the government has a responsibility to ensure people get the “right information”.
“We would not be able to run our public services without migration”, Varadkar added in a staunch defence of the immigration policy as a whole.
