THE HEAD OF the Irish Refugee Council has criticised comments about immigration by the Tánaiste as “careless”.

Nick Henderson said it’s an “incredibly fragile” period given the Citywest riots last month, adding that senior ministers should be careful with their language when discussing immigration.

Gardaí continue to investigate a fire at the Drogheda Ipas centre attacked on Friday night as arson, as CCTV footage appears to show a man setting the stairs alight.

Henderson said the attack amounted to a “crossing of the Rubicon” as it involved an Ipas centre being targeted while people were sleeping inside. The more than a dozen attacks that happened previously at Ipas centres were against often empty buildings that had been earmarked for use as accommodation.

He further criticised remarks made by Tánaiste Simon Harris about immigration last week in the days prior to the arson attac.

Harris had made the comments after being asked about Ireland’s immigration policy in light of the riots at Citywest campus last week.

“Our migration numbers are too high, and I think that is really an issue that needs to be considered in a very serious way by Government”, he said after acknowledging the benefits of immigration.

After being criticised by opposition politicians over the remarks, Harris accused parties on the left of trying to “shut down” discussions on immigration.

Henderson told RTÉ Radio One this morning that these remarks were “most definitely careless” and asked for calmer statements from politicians.

“There’s nothing wrong with debate, but debate must be based on an accurate debate using accurate figures and statistics, and also sensitive to the external dimension, which is extremely heated at the moment,” Henderson said.

Firefighters rescued five people, including a baby, from the top floor of the building in the town’s George’s Street area on Friday night.

As a result of the blaze, 28 residents are now homeless.

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