Councillor says video calling for protest against Offaly refugee centre is 'disgusting'

A COUNCILLOR has said a video calling for a protest in Kilcormac against migrants is vile and disgusting.

Cllr Leahy said he had received a number of calls in relation to the video and stated that nobody in Kilcormac was involved in the organisation of a protest.

The Independent councillor said the information in the video was untrue and incorrect. As he had previously stated, the former convent is being readied for the accommodation of people arriving from Ukraine.

Cllr John Leahy was reacting to a video posted on TikTok on Thursday morning where an unidentified man walks around the former convent in the town.

The man, who cannot be seen in the video, appeals to people to protest against a plan to accommodate migrants in the building and claims that at least 50 single men will be staying there.

The opening captions on the video say Offaly needs to “take a stand” against an “impending plantation” from one named country, and “other s...hole countries”.

The Department of Integration confirmed recently that the convent will be used to house people fleeing the war in Ukraine but the TikTok video does not mention that country.

Instead, it refers to a “migrant infestation” of mainly single males from Islamic countries “marauding the streets”.

The narrator says a statue of the Virgin Mary in the front yard of the convent will “more than likely cause offence to any Mohammedans possibly staying in this building so they'll have to be removed”.

He adds: “Any echoes of this building's former glory will be eradicated fairly quickly.”

He further claims that no women and children will be safe “walking through the one street of this town any longer” due to the “track record of these migrants”.

He tells those watching the video that their Government despises them and says the migrants are not being brought in for altruistic or humanitarian reasons.

“These migrants are being brought in to fracture the fabric of Irish society in general, to cause disharmony and unrest amongst the people, fracturing nation states.”

The video claims the people of Kilcormac and Offaly will be holding the protest and its creator says: “Please do your best to join them. If you care about your women and children, if you care about Ireland, be here tomorrow.”

He also enters the building and records footage, going from room to room showing bunk beds and stating that Irish people are “paying for this”.

“Your women and children, especially the ones in Kilcormac, are going to pay dearly, when these marauding animals, these vermin will be prowling the streets.”

He turns the camera to a holy water font on a wall and says: “More than likely this will have to be removed because it will cause offence to the Mohammedans.”

Cllr Leahy said he had received a number of calls in relation to the video and stated that nobody in Kilcormac was involved in the organisation of a protest.

The Independent councillor said the information in the video was untrue and incorrect. As he had previously stated, the former convent is being readied for the accommodation of people arriving from Ukraine.

He said the very deliberate aim of the video was to set fear among the local people and having watched it he said: “You'd swear that Government or the HSE or the Department of Foreign Affairs was going to bring in 50 men to destroy the town. So it's absolutely vile the way he went about this.”

Cllr Leahy said none of the man's claims were backed up by evidence and said that if the creator of the video did come to Kilcormac for a protest, he would probably be gone soon after.

The councillor said he and other local community leaders were at meetings most nights trying to do their best for the future of Kilcormac and the surrounding area.

He had been working with the building's owner and had been told it would mainly be families, “primarily women and children” who would be accommodated when it is ready.

“The big thing we're working on at community level is we're trying to ensure that the provision of services still remain the same, if not [better], for the people of Kilcormac, along with the people that are coming in.”

He condemned the man who created and posted the video.

“From what I can gather he has no connection with the town, he's not involved in any group. He's come in and he has done a video and for some reason he's probably flying a kite to see how this goes tomorrow. If people go there tomorrow, that's their choice. I personally won't be going anyway.”

He said it is wrong to be frightening people. “He cannot say that the women and children of Kilcormac will be fearful for their lives. It is disgusting.”

The councillor said he believed most Irish people remain supportive of the right to seek refuge in this country.

“I think myself there is a huge outpour of sympathy for the Ukrainians and I think the majority of people in Ireland would like to see them accommodated in some shape or form.”

He said if anyone joins a protest “that's their prerogative” but he believes people will be “clever enough” to question the motives of the man who posted the video.

“Who is this guy? What's his real agenda? Is he from Kilcormac? Is he working behind the scenes to actually... what's his alternative?”

Cllr Leahy also said that when the accommodation centre is up and running it will have security staff and a system for dealing with any difficulties that arise with residents.

“If anybody steps out of line or is not complying they're moved on. That model is what happens across the whole country.”

He added: “If people hear that there's security they could get panicky and say 'Well does that mean there's dangerous people coming?' It's not the case, it's there to help people that maybe might be struggling a small bit, they might have poor English and they might need to get something down in the shop or something might be happening, or they might need a doctor or someone might be getting very ill and might need someone to ring. So it's kind of a wrap around service.”

The TikTok video has generated some commentary from Kilcormac people on Facebook, including a separate video in which it is claimed that security personnel were present at the convent later on Thursday.

There are many comments posted on TikTok, most of them supporting the video, including some calling for the former convent to be burned down.

However, another conmmenter appears to agree with Cllr Leahy's conclusion that the video's creator is not from Kilcormac, saying: “A born and bred kilcormac man” while another wrote “you sound like a true Offaly man”.

A further comment says: “'Other s...hole countries' how very Donald Trump of you.”

“Makeirelandgreatagain” appears before a long list of hashtags at the beginning of the video, such as #kilcormac #offaly #peacefulprotest #enoughisenough and #ireland.

The video asks people to attend at the protest in Kilcormac at 6pm on Friday, February 10.

Last month a Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth confirmed the former Convent of Mercy would be used as an accommodation centre.

“At present, it is not possible to provide details regarding how many persons fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will be allocated to The Convent, Kilcormac,” said a spokesperson.

The allocation to Kilcormac will depend on the number of people arriving into the country on a daily basis, the spokesperson added and temporary accommodation is being contracted by the department “as the need arises”.

“The war in Ukraine has caused a humanitarian crisis and the Government is committed to welcoming people fleeing war in Ukraine and seeking protection in Ireland. Accommodation is initially being made available by the Ukrainian Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team (UCTAT) to those arrivals from Ukraine who require it.

A developer, Serenity Home Ltd, had previously been granted permission to develop a residential addiction treatment centre in the building.

That permission was then overturned by An Bord Pleanala because of concerns about the impact of the development on the interior of the building.

A group called Concerned Residents of Kilcormac opposed the rehabilitation centre plan and Cllr Leahy said in January they told him they would also fight against any attempt to turn it into a refugee centre.