Ireland’s Riots Were Inevitable

In the early hours of last Monday morning, a ten-year-old girl who had been in the care of Tusla, the Irish state agency responsible for child protection, went missing during a trip to Dublin’s city centre. She was later found near the Citywest complex, a hotel being used to accommodate asylum seekers, and reported that she had been sexually assaulted. The government has ordered an urgent national review into how this could have happened to a child in state care.

A twenty-six-year-old man, an asylum seeker whose identity is protected under Irish law, was arrested and charged in connection with the alleged assault. He had been awaiting deportation following a deportation order issued in March of this year. The accused was granted free legal aid after the court was told he was unemployed, and his state-appointed solicitor requested an Arabic interpreter.

The court heard from one Garda officer that the accused replied “I have nothing to say” when he was charged. He has deferred his right to apply for bail, though this may be sought at a later date. The judge has requested that medical and psychiatric assessments be carried out on the accused and that he be provided with appropriate medical treatment if required.

The shocking nature of the case instantly captured national attention and reignited existing anger and frustration surrounding migration to Ireland. Within hours, messages were circulating calling for protest outside the Citywest Hotel complex, now used to house asylum seekers and refugees, in Saggart, on the south-western outskirts of Dublin.

Residents of the Citywest facility received WhatsApp messages warning them to stay indoors after half past six. That evening, small groups began assembling outside the gates. The atmosphere was tense but contained. Irish tricolours were visible among the crowd, and chants of “get them out” echoed intermittently. While the protest remained peaceful, the undercurrent of anger deepened, and the Garda presence increased.

By Tuesday evening the crowd had swollen dramatically. Witnesses estimate that nearly two thousand people gathered at the scene, many carrying banners and flags. Two men rode horses back and forth and were met with cheers from the growing crowds. At around half past seven, the tense atmosphere reached a critical mass. Fireworks, glass bottles, and bricks were thrown at police lines. Garda officers deployed pepper spray in response. A police van was set alight, its flames lighting up the night sky to the sound of shouts, slogans, and sirens. Some protesters attempted to breach the police cordon using carts and scrambler bikes. A laser was pointed at a hovering Garda helicopter. By midnight, several arrests had been made, and one officer had sustained a foot injury. Officials later described the crowd as a mob intent on violence.

On Wednesday, Gardaí seized a citizen journalist’s phone outside the hotel, claiming it contained evidence related to the burning of the police vehicle. Later that evening, despite calls for calm, the unrest continued for a second night. Around three hundred officers were deployed, including public order, mounted, and dog units. Helicopters circled overhead as riot police faced off against hundreds of demonstrators. Bottles and flares rained down again, injuring at least two officers. Twenty-four people were arrested during the night, with seventeen later charged in court.

Thursday evening passed without major incident. Police maintained a visible presence around the complex, warning that further disorder would not be tolerated. The Justice Minister condemned the rioters as “thuggish opportunists” while the Taoiseach called the violence “deeply shocking and unacceptable”.

Investigations have been launched into whether “organised far-right networks” played a role in coordinating the unrest. Gardaí have since confirmed that online activity, including encrypted group messaging, is a focus of inquiry.

These events were inevitable. The Citywest riots were not an isolated incident. They are part of a continuous story of politicians across Europe treating the native population as second-class citizens. People are aware of this and are understandably angry. For years, legitimate safety concerns have been ignored while strangers enter our countries and are placed at the centre of policy. Some arrive illegally. Others come legally. Either way, ordinary people are left to deal with the consequences. This is a problem faced both by Ireland and the rest of Europe.

Sexual assaults by migrants are treated like natural disasters. They are tragic, but inevitable. To question why these crimes happen or why the perpetrators are allowed into our communities is forbidden. To demand their removal is “dangerous”. To insist on our safety is framed as hate. Meanwhile, taxpayers fund accommodation, healthcare, and welfare for these people. Ordinary citizens foot the bill and face the consequences. Our children, ourselves, and our very societies bear the cost.

Politicians seem to understand the difficult situation they must navigate in order to maintain this exploitative arrangement. Most avoid saying the quiet part out loud. However, not always. Naz Shah, a UK MP, shared a tweet stating: “Those abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere need to shut their mouths for the good of diversity.” It faced considerable public backlash, and she later deleted the post. She claims it was shared “accidentally” but it fits too neatly within the current political paradigm for that to be credible. It undoubtedly reflects the opinion of many politicians across Europe who have enough sense to avoid publicly stating it: that we must sacrifice our children on the altar of diversity. This is why public anger simmers dangerously close to boiling point — nobody believes our politicians are willing to address the problems foreign migration brings to our doorstep.

This anger and frustration have led to predictable incidents of violence. In November 2023, an Algerian asylum seeker stabbed three children outside a Dublin primary school. A five-year-old was critically injured. A care assistant was seriously wounded. The city erupted. Buses and trams burned. Shops were looted. People were furious because authorities ignored their warnings.

A comparable situation emerged in Britain in 2024, but on a far larger scale. Between 30th July and 7th August, twenty-nine anti-immigration demonstrations and riots erupted across 27 towns and cities. Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked. The unrest was triggered by the murder of three young girls in Southport by the son of two Rwandan asylum seekers, Axel Rudakubana. Police forces reported being stretched to their limits, and if the riots had expanded further, they would have been completely overwhelmed.

Violence is ugly. All good and moral people should wish to avoid it. Yet these incidents are not anomalies. They are symptoms of a deeper issue. When legitimate safety concerns, particularly those involving children, are ignored for years, the risk that ordinary people will resort to violence rises. The violence is not some carefully orchestrated political statement. It is a raw and instinctive eruption of frustration at a system that appears unwilling to protect, and often actively hostile to, its own citizens. Yet the predictable anger of the public is often reframed as the problem itself, giving free rein to those invested in maintaining the current system to further crack down on the native population.

Until these underlying problems are addressed, the violence will continue. We may see unrest escalate as anger and frustration deepens. As we saw in Britain in 2024, things can get dangerously close to spiralling out of control. If angry mobs take matters into their own hands, bloodshed will follow. This is, of course, undesirable. There is only one clear solution: they must be sent back.