VIDEOS OF A fire in North Dublin City claim that the building that was set alight was planned to house asylum seekers. While it is true that security sources told The Journal that police are investigating if rumors had inspired the 31 January attack on the building, there is no evidence that it was planned to house asylum seekers.
One such claim, shared on a Facebook video viewed more than 12,000 times, reads: “Asylum center in Artane torched. This is the fault of the government. The people spoke, they didn’t listen. Things will get worse.”
Aside from the other claims, this description is wrong about the location; it was not taken at Artane, Dublin 5. The video showing the blaze was taken miles away on Sherrard Street, in Dublin 1, as confirmed by Google Maps Street View, and shows Rawlton House, a former school dating from 1899.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), which arranges housing for asylum seekers, confirmed to The Journal that the building was “not contracted by the Department.”
The department said that they could not comment on “specific plans for accommodation pending the agreement of rates, terms and contracts with providers as this is commercially sensitive information” and that other queries about the blaze were a matter for An Garda Siochána.
They also advised that following an agreement with a housing contractor, the department “engages with local representatives to provide information as soon as possible” before the opening of the facility.
The owners of the building, a protected structure, had planned to refurbish the building and turn it into apartments.
Despite construction not being finished on the building, and no contract being signed with the DCEDIY, sources told The Journal that Gardaí were investigating the theory that it was targeted by a group who believed, erroneously, that the building was to be used as a direct provision centre.
Verdict
False. Videos showing a blaze at Rawlton House in Dublin falsely claim that it was being used as an “asylum centre”. Construction on the building had not been completed, and the department in charge of housing asylum seekers confirmed that they had no contract for the building.
With reporting by Niall O’Connor
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