Philip Ryan: Hostility on the doorsteps as tensions around immigration rise

With elections looming, canvassers are being met with increasing negativity as they visit the nation's voters

Asylum-seekers leaving Mount Street in Dublin accompanied by members of An Garda Síochána last Wednesday. Photo: Collins

Philip Ryan

Right across the Government, everyone knew Mount Street was becoming a bigger problem every day. Local businesses and residents were threatening legal action against the State if the expanding asylum-seeker ‘tent city’ in the middle of Dublin was not dealt with.

It can’t have been nice for the asylum-seekers pitched up outside the International Protection Office either. Images of the encampment had made their way into the international press and the issue was becoming an embarrassment for the Government. An operation was put in place over the St Patrick’s weekend to dismantle the tents, but they quickly returned.