Man Blockading Refugee Hostel ‘Definitely Not A Racist’

“And I don’t know anyone here who is racist,” Anthony O’Brien said, gesturing at the motley crew of vigilantes parked on the access road to the facility. “Mostly we’re ordinary, decent people who’re concerned about fire safety and the danger of mould building up in the bathrooms,” he added, blinking back the tears, as Kenny Rogers’ Coward of the County, played on his mobile.

O’Brien was speaking on behalf of the owners of two dozen vehicles who barricaded a premises set aside for refugee accommodation, once it became known the occupants would be asylum seekers.

Clodagh Madden blinked furiously as she explained she wouldn’t feel safe if there were men in the area ‘who weren’t from the area’. “I’ve got nothing against men, per se,” she said, “ask anyone and they’ll tell you? But I draw the line at strange men I don’t know undressing me with their eyes. The government must think we’re all whores down here, if they think we’ll put up with that. And what exactly will they be imagining doing to me, once they have me stripped naked,” she said with a shudder of delight, “in the middle of the road?”

“Round here people keep themselves to themselves,” Manus Dempsey explained. “They mind their own business and they don’t like being told what to do by a lad above in Dublin with a biro. We’ve no problem with genuine Irish-speaking asylum seekers. But you won’t read that in the meeja! According to them everyone involved in this protest is a racist.”