Ireland is “asleep at the wheel” on immigration, an Irish senator from a town where one in 100 are asylum seekers has said.
Niall Blaney is running in June’s European elections to represent a Donegal constituency which is taking in twice the national average of asylum seekers in Ireland.
“They’ve been asleep at the wheel as far as my government is concerned,” the 50-year-old centre-Right politician said.
“I really think our taoiseach will have to stand up here, sooner rather than later, because we’re going to have more protests. We’re going to have much more anti-immigrant sentiment.”
Last week, six people were arrested after police were attacked by protestors at a site for asylum seekers in County Wicklow after a string of arson attacks at other centres.
There were also far-Right anti-migrant riots in Dublin last year, the capital of a country in the grips of a housing crisis in which asylum seekers are now being housed in tents.
Mr Blaney, now a senator, was previously the MP for a Donegal constituency where one person in every 100 is an asylum seeker and which borders Northern Ireland. His party, Fianna Fáil, is part of the coalition government in Dublin.