Ballybane “plantation”: anti-immigration and misinformation land in Galway City

Local residents have been gathering in Ballybane all month to protest outside of a building that many speculate is to be designated as an International Protection Centre to house asylum seekers.

The crowds wield yellow and black signs disparaging “economic migrants” and “mass immigration”. Another reads: “Yes to controlled immigration, no to open borders”. At one of the demonstrations, several men hurled glass bottles at the fenced-in property, which was met with frustration by other members of the group, pleading for the offenders to maintain a peaceful protest.

The concerns are similar to those that have been getting attention recently in Roscrea and communities across Ireland, concerns which have ignited anti-immigration protests throughout the country. These groups have been increasingly vocal since the tragedy and chaos that unfolded in Dublin in November when an immigrant stabbed a child and a caretaker, sparking anti-immigration protests and riots. Less attention was given to the trio who stopped the knifeman, one of whom was also an immigrant.

In Ballybane and elsewhere, the same keywords and phrases are recycled: refugees are welcome, but “economic migrants” are not; “mass migration” will strain services; women and children are acceptable, but not “unvetted” men and “criminals”; there is not enough housing as is. 

Of course it is true that there is a housing crisis in Ireland, and that services are under-resourced; the healthcare system ranks quite low within the EU. But among the real issues raised are the others: ones that are less founded in reality, and rather more in the rising social tensions and far-right rhetoric surrounding immigration that has been creeping into Ireland in the past few years, whether all of the protestors on the ground are aware of this origin or not.

In the past week in Galway, one of the largest, most organised demonstrations to date took place outside the building in Ballybane. Aisling Keogh, a city council election candidate for Galway City East, spoke into a microphone that was set up in front of the crowd, in a statement that was filmed live on Facebook.

“Unvetted” criminals

“There are a lot of foreign nationals already living here. They’re already well-integrated. This is not about that. This is about 150 men coming into an area,” she said. “There’s obviously fear.” Keogh also said that she was looking into the vetting process for the suspected 150 male asylum seekers moving into the building.

All International Protection applicants must go through a vetting process. The Department of Justice states that all applicants aged 16 and over are required to undergo their eVetting process. The International Protection Office (IPO) works with the Garda Siochána National Vetting Bureau to oversee it all. 

And according to the DOJ, “one of the qualifying criteria that must be met in order to be granted permission under the International Protection Regularisation Scheme, is that you have been of good character, and have not been involved in criminal activity”.

In 2023, the Garda stated that they have witnessed no increase in crime as a result of an increase in asylum seekers.

It is also a qualification for the IPO that applicants are categorised as refugees, meaning that by definition they have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and that they cannot seek the protection of their country. In other words, these centres are not being used for “economic migrants”.

“Ballybane plantation coming soon!”

Though many deny any notions that the cause is far-right or xenophobic, the language they use tells a different story. It is evident on Facebook where the group ‘Galway says no’ plans the meetings in Ballybane, and where there is a sizable spectrum of ideology on display.

The page is full of glaringly racist posts, comments, and memes, which receive positive and negative reactions. But in even more abundance is the subtle terminology of the far-right, and those using it may not even know that their words originated on the tongues of white nationalists.

“Ballybane plantation coming soon!” is the title of a video of the building posted on Saturday. According to analysts at The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) at the Institute for Future Media and Journalism at Dublin College University, the term “plantation” with reference to asylum seekers and refugees in Ireland was only used in niche far right groups on the Telegram messaging app. It has now made its way into the mainstream.

No plans for Ballybane

Despite the fact that the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (CEDIY) states that they have received “no offer of accommodation” about the building in Ballybane, the protests in the Galway neighbourhood persist.

The department maintains that it is “not examining this property for use either for international protection applicants or for people fleeing Ukraine” and that “no offer nor enquiry has been received on behalf of the owner”.

Regardless of the facts, rumours continue to circulate on social media that 150 male asylum seekers will soon be moving into the Ballybane building, as does the language of the far-right.