Protests against housing of refugees spread as new rally planned in west Dublin

Organisers say they “are getting nowhere” with local representatives and are instead gathering to protest the “recent influx” of refugees into the area.

The Clondalkin Community Association cites “Dolcain House, Red Cow, IBIS” as locations being used to house asylum seekers.

Protest organisers say they are against the emergency accommodation in the area as services “like Gardaí, doctors, schools among others are already fully stretched.”

In a poster advertising the demonstration, the Clondalkin Community Association includes a hashtag saying “not a far right association.”

They also claim that “Clondalkin has 1000 men, no consultation, no extra resources, no vetting” and in a statement, compared themselves to “other communities around the country” taking action.

Their demonstration comes as protests against the use of an old ESB building in East Wall as emergency accommodation for refugees continue.

Tensions have continued to rise in the local community since the protests began, with many fearing they have been co-opted by right-wing nationalists.

Local TD Gary Gannon recently told Newstalk Breakfast that the protest “does not represent” the view of all East Wall residents.

"What started out last week as quite a large cohort of people in the North Inner City and East Wall discussing how they weren’t informed, how they didn’t feel consulted, has very quickly descended into what I will only describe now as a far-right rally,” he said.

The Social Democrats TD said he believed a number of right-wing activists had arrived to “hijack” the protest.

Demonstrators have also disrupted traffic across the city.

Protesters first blocked the Dublin Port Tunnel last Monday, saying it was “just a small taste of what’s to come” and that their disruption will continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the accommodation in shut down.