People ‘Afraid to Walk the Streets’ as One-Fifth of Irish Town Now Migrants

One councillor has claimed that her constituents have been left “afraid to walk the streets” after an influx of asylum seekers into her town, where migrants now reportedly make up over one-fifth of the population.

A number of Councillors in the Irish town of Killarney have warned that people are living in fear as a result of a recent influx of migrants into the area.

With over one-fifth of the town’s population now being migrants, the surge mirrors a nationwide increase in the number of non-Ukrainian asylum seekers in Ireland.

Such arrivals have likely been boosted by the open borders policies of the country’s government, with Ireland’s Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, earlier this year implementing a near-blanket amnesty for illegal migrants already living on the island.

According to a report by local paper the Killarney Advertiser, the number of migrants in the town has “increased dramatically in recent weeks due to the Government’s commitment to house an uncapped number of refugees”.

Overall, more than 3,200 asylum seekers are said to be in the town, which — before the influx — only had a population of 10,360 people

Various people from inside the town have since reportedly contacted the paper saying that they are concerned regarding their own safety in the wake of the arrivals, with the publication describing them as “living in fear”.

“I know for a fact that there are people actually afraid to walk the streets or walk down along the road,” local Councillor Marie Moloney is reported as saying during a Killarney Municipal District meeting earlier this week.

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Another councillor, Donal Grady, meanwhile told the publication that “they [the migrants] are the ones causing all the trouble”.

“They are not respecting our town,” he said. {snip}

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