How The Far-Right Is Exploiting Immigration Concerns In Oughterard

An Irish Times report claims that Anti-immigrant activists trying to dominate and exploit local debates on direct provision.

Last March, the organisers of a meeting in Lismore, called to help a Syrian refugee family as they arrived in the picturesque Waterford town, had an uneasy feeling as they looked on the 160 people gathered in the community centre.

“We had an idea it was possible some far-right people might come along maybe. We knew from online chatter that they had got it into their heads that a direct provision centre was going to open in the town,” says Lynne Glasscoe of the Lismore Welcome Project.

But Glasscoe says she was not prepared for the level of organisation they displayed, or how disruptive they would be: “There were eight or 10 of them spread throughout the room. They were very, very well organised and they were live-streaming the whole meeting.”

Frequently, they interrupted, asking questions about direct provision, despite it having been made clear from the off that just one Syrian family was coming, and that no centre was planned.

Continue reading @ the Irish Times.