Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted it is not Government policy to repurpose buildings such as student accommodation or nursing homes for refugees or asylum seekers.
In recent months, there has been a series of suspected arson attempts at properties earmarked for housing asylum seekers or refugees, or properties that were rumoured for such use.
In the latest incident, gardaí are investigating attempted criminal damage by fire at a property in Lanesborough, Co Longford, on Tuesday evening.
Speaking in Galway on Friday night, the Taoiseach said: “It’s not our policy to repurpose student accommodation or nursing homes for example for accommodation for people seeking international protection or Ukrainians.
“There may be limited circumstances where that makes sense, where it has been out of use for a period of time, or replaces what is being built but generally speaking we don’t want to see student accommodation being repurposed for that purpose or nursing homes.
“If a building has been out of use for a period of time, I think that is very different.”
Earlier, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that “no cause justifies” arson attacks on buildings earmarked for use by refugees or asylum seekers – and warned that “people can get hurt”.
Asked how the Government can be sure there will be arrests in any of the investigations into the suspected arson attacks, Mr Donohoe said “because of the confidence I have in An Garda Siochana”.
He added: “It takes time for the guards to do their work, it takes time for them to bring forward cases that they can stand over, and the guards have a track record of being able to do it and I’m confident that they will.”
Mr Donohoe said that garda work is “demanding and difficult”, but he is sure of “their commitment and their professionalism to bringing people to justice”.
He added: “So the reason why I have that confidence is because I have seen the quality and scale of the work guards have done with my own eyes in dealing with similar issues to this. And I am certain that they are taking this with the seriousness that it deserves.
“But when I hear talk of the need for communities to ‘take action’, I hear some of the far-right language that is being used at the moment, I hear attempts to justify this kind of behaviour – it’s criminal activity, people can get hurt, people can get killed, and we can have people very scared by it.
“There’s no cause that justifies that, there is no cause that justifies it. And the guards will be at the front line doing all that is needed to either stop this from happening, which is hard to do at times, or to bring to justice those who have been involved in it and I know no effort will be spared in doing that.”
Asked about a plan to boost investment in the 10 communities that had housed a high number of refugees, Mr Donohoe said he was still unsure how much would be allocated.
Ministers are to firm up the details of the plan in early February.
“It will be a plan that will be capable of making a difference to communities that are experiencing the strains of a huge inflow of people into our country,” he said.
“We want it to be something that’s meaningful, that’s capable of making a difference in those communities and I’m certain that when my Government colleagues have completed that work, that it’s something that will be visible that will help.”
Mr Donohoe was speaking at DCU where he, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris, and Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien highlighted the Government’s long-term policy to develop student accommodation.
