An independent councillor for Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown, whose family home was attacked on Monday evening in Ballybrack, has appealed to people to welcome refugees and asylum seekers and help them integrate rather than protesting and alienating them.
A rock with the message "stop supporting refugees" was thrown through the window of independent councillor Hugh Lewis' family home.
Gardaí have confirmed they are investigating the incident, which happened in Ballybrack at around 11.30pm.
Separately, another property in the nearby village, Ridge Hall, was damaged yesterday afternoon as a number of people gathered to take part in an anti-asylum seeker protest. Gardaí say no arrests have been made.
The incidents has been condemned by locals and a number of public representatives, including Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who described the attack on the Lewis home as "absolutely reprehensible".
Ms McEntee told reporters this afternoon that she had spoken to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris about this and other incidents in the area, adding that there will be a strong garda response.
She said that the people who carried out the attack, "do not represent the vast majority people of this country who are extremely welcoming".
The minister also said that there are "consequences" to such incidents.
Minister of State and Dún Laoghaire TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, described it as "unacceptable destruction and disruption".
"Vandalism of an empty building in an effort to frighten and intimidate local residents is not the way forward," she said.
People Before Profit TD for Dún Laoghaire Richard Boyd Barrett also spoke out, saying that "to attack someone who speaks up for the vulnerable and opposes hate is a terrible thing. If fear and intimidation take hold, it will be a disaster for everyone".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher-Hayes, Mr Lewis urged people to be calm.
"I think that's the most important thing - calm and reflection and to seek the truth. There's a massive campaign of disinformation at the moment," he said.
Mr Lewis said his father, who was in the house at the time, is shaken but okay.
He said his father has been overwhelmed by the support he has received, but that he did not sleep on Monday night and was not able to eat on Tuesday.
"It's not a nice experience for anybody, particularly a 78-year-old man living on his own. It was quite a traumatic experience that he should never have gone through," Mr Lewis said.
"Although I have always engaged in debate with people over social media, the tone and narrative has changed dramatically over the past number of weeks."
Mr Lewis explained that most people would associate the address with him because it is his family home, and he was registered to that address for a number of years.
The independent councillor said he deals with the housing and cost-of-living crises "every day of the week", so he can understand people's anger and frustration.
However, he added: "I am just doing my job and articulating the position that I always have."
"If you're disenfranchised, if you're angry, then you need to target the decision makers in our society, not other people that are vulnerable, whether it's someone earning €38.50 a week and sleeping in the bunk bed, or it's the person beside you. It's a road to nowhere targeting anyone but the decision makers."
Mr Lewis said the vast majority of the local community do not agree with the protests, adding that the ring leaders of the protests are coming from outside the area.
"These people are more interested in targeting community leaders, like me, rather than going after Government parties," he said.
He said that there is a campaign of disinformation and it is easy to believe the narrative that blames the easy target.
"The people perpetuating these lies neither care about people who are in need of social housing, whether they're Irish or people that are seeking asylum.
"They simply want to cause division in their communities. And that's something that I'm very happy, I'm very passionate, about standing up against," he said.
Social media companies have a responsibility here as well, Mr Lewis said, and stressed that it is a tiny element of society engaging in violent actions.
Many of the people on the protests do not really understand the process of asylum, he said, and other people are strategically using this to their advantage.
The most important thing is to appeal for calm, he said.
