Public sentiment in response to the Dublin protests is overwhelmingly characterized by anger and frustration towards the government's handling of immigration and the perceived failures in protecting citizens, particularly vulnerable children. Many commenters express outrage over the alleged crime against a 10-year-old girl and criticize the authorities for prioritizing immigrant rights over public safety. While there is acknowledgment of some negative actions among protesters, the overall mood is one of urgent demand for accountability and reform in immigration policies.

Irish Government

Police (Garda)

Immigrant Community

Protesters

A reminder that information discussed in the comments should be taken from **reputable** sources.

Comments regarding information that has only been posted in non-reputable media will be removed.

ireland-ModTeam

Deportation order since March?  
April, May, June, July, August, September and 20 days of October...

Deportations don't happen overnight but you'd think 200 nights would be long enough?

FatherlyNick

"The Absolute Fucking State Of Ireland"

&gt;"The suspect arrived in Ireland six years ago and failed in his application for international protection in 2024. He has been the subject of a deportation order since March of this year"

Larrydog

It’s incidents like this that turn ordinary people’s stomachs. He was subject to a deportation order since March, people will rightly wonder why he was still in the country to begin with?

GovernmentOwn7905

Why the fuck are we paying for this? IPAS has been a disaster.

youbigfatmess

What the actual fuck 💔

That poor little girl

sweatyknacker

&gt;An area has been sealed off as a crime scene outside the Citywest Hotel, which is used as accommodation for international protection applicants (IPAS). However, it is understood the child does not reside at the centre and it was unclear where the suspect has been living.

Own-Discussion5527

My main issue here (apart from the horrendous attack on the girl) is that this person should not have been in the country to even do this (if guilty) as they were subject to a deportation order since March. 

It's also why this concept of self deportation is an utter nonsense. 

Also, someone being here for 6 years shows how badly the system is functioning as well, and its not humane for them either.

Extract from the [Irish Times article](https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2025/10/20/man-30s-arrested-over-alleged-assault-of-girl-at-citywest-dublin/):

&gt;The suspect arrived in Ireland six years ago and failed in his application for international protection in 2024.

&gt;He has been the subject of a deportation order since March of this year.

miju-irl

The state is siphoning off billions of taxpayer money to their cronies to run IPAas centres and this is the result of the ground. There must be some kind of accountability on those who set this system up

Alarmed_Station6185

&gt; The suspect arrived in Ireland six years ago and failed in his application for international protection in 2024.

&gt;He has been the subject of a deportation order since March of this year.

If guilty this is a damning  indictment of our deportation system.

Poor girl.

sureyouknowurself

Eire87

How can RTE not mention it on the 9pm news round up? People will get fed up of being treated like we’re idiots

yityatyurt

Close the IPAS centres if your deportation order comes in on a Monday morning, you should be on a Monday evening flight, not still fucking here months later

Haleakala1998

Absolute scumbag. Should be jailed for life. And as for the government, if it’s true that this man is the subject of a deportation order, then shame on them all. It’s not what I want, but in 5-10 years Ireland will be ran by a far right party, and the clowns in government will have nobody to blame only themselves. The current system isn’t working and the current politicians aren’t fixing it.

Late_Investment2072

Absolute joke as usual, 

I've taken a look at some data published by our own government from June stating the below,

Voluntary return is an option open to people who have no legal status in Ireland including those who are refused International Protection. Where this option is taken up, a deportation order is not issued in respect of that person. In 2024, the number of voluntary returns increased to 934 compared to 213 in 2023. This is the preferred method of removing people from the State.

Source - [https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/press-releases/deportation-enforcement-continues-to-increase-june-2025/](https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/press-releases/deportation-enforcement-continues-to-increase-june-2025/)

Secondly, 

In 2024, Ireland deported 1,116 people, while if we look at data from the European council on refugees and exiles, Ireland had 13,099 asylum claims in 2024, 9,703 of these ended in a negative decision yet we only deported 1,116?   
source - [https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/republic-ireland/statistics/](https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/republic-ireland/statistics/)

I also read the Dutch report published in December 2024 on the financial cost of refugees and it was very interesting, I highly recommend it.

  
[https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/17569/the-long-term-fiscal-impact-of-immigrants-in-the-netherlands-differentiated-by-motive-source-region-and-generation](https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/17569/the-long-term-fiscal-impact-of-immigrants-in-the-netherlands-differentiated-by-motive-source-region-and-generation)

AscendedAO

Leo, Meehole &amp; Harris have really fucked us over, history will not be kind to them.

Any_Necessary_9588

He had a deportation order since March - what the hell was he still doing here? I'm absolutely raging about this, and if I was a genuine asylum seeker (who are going to be the ones who will bear the brunt of the backlash for this, unfortunately) I would be even more raging about this.

harry_dubois

Why don’t the people of Ireland protest? Over the rising cost of living, the budgets, the lack of acknowledgment over public concerns about illegal immigration and the rise in random violent attacks? The farce of a presidential run? 

We should be able to show a peaceful demonstration of protest like France or am I missing something. I don’t agree with the violent protesters that we have seen where people set fire to trams etc but we should be able to express our concerns.

SexHaiiiir

Said multiple times, we need to follow Denmark on this one. No fake "refugees welcome" nonsense. Integrate or leave.

vinceswish

Rambostips

The poor girl. I hope the victim is treated with the compassion she deserves, and that the attacker is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

epeeist

The poor girl I can’t even begin to imagine the fear she had in that moment, and the lifelong trauma this will have caused, and the audacity of someone who’s supposed to be a guest in this country to do something like this is beyond belief. 

Can this finally be the tipping point where it’s okay for people to be outraged by crimes committed by people falsely claiming asylum in this country. I’m so sick of the discourse about peoples’ genuine outrage at these crimes being mischaracterised as “point scoring for the far-right”, they’re more concerned with “point-scoring” allegations than the depravity of the crimes themselves.

I understand that indigenous Irish people also commit crimes, but some of these crimes being committed by asylum seekers are on another level of randomness and violence. And let’s be real, we all know that 90% of people claiming asylum in Europe are making false claims, they’re here to get free money, accommodation and possibly illegal work, or legitimate work. I’m all for people coming here to legally work but if you claim asylum as a long con to be able to stay and work in this country then you’re just bypassing our legal immigration routes and being disingenuous.

GBSii

Horrendous. Just look how much this has been happening in other countries like the UK though and in Germany and the nordic countries! 

We still need full details but the government need to wake up and start getting strict on asylum. Just mere days after a Ukranian boy was stabbed over 100 times by a Somalian asylum seeker too. The situation is not good!

MrStarGazer09

Disgusting rotten scumbag. I’m sick of this crap it’s non stop with awful news stories of refugees in this country. Still everyone ignoring it, seeing the perpetrators as victims, blaming everyone else and calling anyone who stands up to it racist.

Professional_Town665

I consider myself a progressive but there is nothing progressive or egalitarian about the current IPAS system. We need to have a serious, honest nationwide debate about immigration otherwise we are destined for the same fate as the UK with far right populist parties becoming the new normal.

niko_starkiller

Jesus H Christ 

That poor little girl, failed completely by our government.

seanylawson67

The absolute state of our country!!! Change is needed and fast.

joseyjoe10

Hope the money was worth it to whatever grubby cunt profited off of him being here for that long

Tough-Promotion-5144

jstapo85

[deleted]

When’s the protests,our country has had enough

Competitive_Fail8130

Is there a seemingly more incompetently run organisation than Tusla. Anyone who does this should get life, and for it to mean life.

JBLookalike

General_Z0

Nothing to see here , sure Irish people do it too.. Diversity is our strength , multiculturalism, they'll  be paying our pensions etc etc

SnooChickens1534

Keep voting the same self loathing traitorous pricks in and this is what you will get.

GamerGuy123454

I used to work in saggart. A beautiful town. Honestly couldn't find anywhere better. Fuck this government and it's policies

It is not the responsibility of the Irish people to solve the world's problems. The establishment and left of our political landscape need to come to terms with this quickly or we risk a Reform like movement gaining massive momentum. 

The state has failed this girl and prioritised the rights and safety of the perpetrator - this is how many around the country will view this.

Weekly_One1388

These incidents that would have turned heads around the country only 5 short years ago are becoming more and more normalised. What in God's name are we doing.

-Fancysauce-

Not everyone that hits the streets over this will be a far right loony. This one hits hard.

bigdog94_10

Yeah my views on immigration are sliding further and further to the right

Impressive_Light_229

The linked article is paywalled 

Here's RTE's https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/1020/1539616-assault-saggart/ 

Also; it's just as well this was reported relatively late in the day - or Dublin city centre would've had Dublin Riots 2 - Electric Boogaloo 

That poor girl 

I have no words 

Well, I do - I just can't use them here

PressPlayPlease7

Honestly, we need access to a penal colony, in some godforsaken hellhole, where people like this can be sent to live out their days.

SamSquanch16

He'll probably do like the guy in the UK now and claim asylum as it'll be too dangerous for him in prison in his own country so can't deport

SpareZealousideal740

Most of u on here were totally pro this nonsense when speaking out against it mattered

Fast_Chemical_4001

The article reports the girl was in the care of Tusla. Can only imagine the strain of working in such an organisation, particularly in light of the various headlines concerning minors in the care of Tusla of late. Hope those staffers get the support them need as well.

NothingHatesYou

This is probably one of the most horrendous things that has happened in recent memory.

This was ENTIRELY preventable, but people just don't want to have that conversation.

My prayers are with the poor girl and her family.

This is not the Ireland I grew up in.

timbotx

I am super angry at the way the Irish government handle the immigration issue.

How many more kids now FFFG?! 🤯

whitemaltese

5u114

There’s going to be another riot shortly.

Mark my words.

mybighairyarse

charman458

We  as a nation, as a culture, as a government,  are not managing to run our civil services. Health, immigration,  tourism, housing, defence, any department you can name is being so poorly run its falling apart despite adequate funding (even over funding in some cases). 

Whats the answer? Do we privatise everything at this point and hope the right people get fired and a for profit system fun better? (unlikely) 

A new government probably won't help either as the incompetent, corrupt civil servants and system that supports them will remain no matter whose in charge. 

I keep thinking we aren't actually a stupid nation of people, we shouldn't be running like some banana republic. We barely deserve our independence at this point.

Big-Ad-5611

I've been saying this for years, because the mainstream parties have had their head in the sand over migration, they have left the door wide open for the extreme loonies to step into the political void.

5x0uf5o

We really run the risk of a Ballymena like riot in citywest tonight. I was a moderate left but I now feel myself aligning with the more right groups as I feel the risks far outweigh the benefits now.

SassyKing91

Why do I feel like Tusla majorly slipped up somehow

Separate-Sand2034

Growing up used to have Cool Lan Party's at that place sad its gone.

Adventurous-Bet2683



That housing vulnerable children with large groups of single males in temporary accommodation is not a good idea shouldn't be seen as a right wing talking point.

OBVIOUSLY I don't agree there should be rioting it's not a good thing but people, especially authorities, should be aware if anything kicks off something like the Dublin riots again it will be an event like this.

At a minimum the hotel will be targeted. I assume there is already a high level of alert there but it wouldn't surprise me if it's targeted for arson. Hopefully actual deaths aren't added to this.

jimmobxea

The headline should read "child" instead of "girl", WTF

zep2floyd

Herpinheim

https://preview.redd.it/bf7ey36tdowf1.jpeg?width=1080&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=b01448d291039694915ca2e011e5b89d89278b27

Banzay_87

Is this actually true or alleged? Can someone please share an article?

Prestigious-Rich9054

Europe needs to do massive deports or were fucked. Simple as that.

Demistr

But news as usual when the local priest does it

Several_Foot3246

Oh right id be right the protesting too fucking god damnit!

skunkfunkmonk

Hey if we believe in collective punishment we'll do what israel is doing to Palestinians, let's not

It would be an absolute shame if someone cut his balls off or if he were to be attacked by large men with baseball bats.i would hate if he was gang raped by multiple syphilis carrying HIV+ Drug addicts. That would just be terrible.

Snaggl3t00t4

Dingobabies

One question: to what extent is this news expanded in order to reinforce stereotypes? or is there even statistically a problem in relation to the committing of violent crimes by refugees in European countries? I have always defended the thesis of multiculturalism, but I have been bombarded by news of this type.

SutiIFrenesi

What happened to the little girl is inexcusable,  and any man capable of such depravity does not belong in society. I'm a victim of CSA, and my most right wing view is that he should be castrated and thrown in a dark pit for the rest of his sorry life. Doesn't matter who he is or where he came from.

However he was charged and in custody. That hotel houses many refugees and asylum seekers, including Ukranian families. The scumbags out last night rioting don't give a fuck about the victim, innocents in the hotel or the surrounding village. They are thugs, through and through. Ireland is a democracy, if you want to protest, do it properly outside the Dáil. Don't be domestic terrorists claiming to want to protect women and children then go on to terrorise them and assault a female Garda.

madra_uisce2

JFC the left needs to step up its "street" game before these fascists become a lot more emboldened.

Eta: Fascists are cowards who don't even believe in their own causes so I don't want to sound too alarmist but they will keep pushing the boundaries as long as they have the numbers and face no real consequences. We need to make them pay every now and then.

ilimlidevrimci

On one hand vandalism can not be excused. On the other hand anything less violent will be simply ignored. Voting out the people who let the situation to become what it is, is hardly possible as the current doctrine is so deeply entrenched that no candidate who is actually capable of making the change will be allowed on the ballot (and even if one makes it though, state apparatus will resist and sabotage the efforts). So many people are starting to feel that violent protest is the only option left.

AbstractButtonGroup

What the BBC article doesn't mention is that an African illegal immigrant raped a 10 year old girl, and the Dublin government can't understand why the Irish are a little miffed about that.

killer_cain

The people who stir up this racial hatred are evil men, they want to create suffering and strife in the hopes they can use that to gain political power.

ChefCurryYumYum

Personally, I'm kinda split. As a nativist, I might be tempted to greet the uprising of the indigenous people against the imperialist Dublin régime hellbent on exterminating them, but notice how they only rise up for "women's rights" not to be raped by foreign men. As an incel, I also am very sensitive to men's issues, and this screams vaginal and gynocratic. It's akin to being a pagan amidst the fights of Protestants and Catholics, lonely...

Adunaiii

Madness that only 6 were arrested. 

 I seen videos yesterday on the Garda car burning, lads were saying "turn your cameras away, they'll use it to find you". They weren't there to protest, there to wreck whatever they could. 

Well done to the Gards and getting it over in 90mins.

Plus the water cannon got deployed too, great to see. It's not always water they spray. it could be an irritatent mixed in wrecking all their fancy Canada goose jackets. Couldn't be happier.

mushy_cactus

These people don't give a fuck about the victim. They want a reason to riot. It's amazing people who wanted Conor McGregor to be president suddenly take issue with rape.

saggynaggy123

and we are back on the air ! 

Glad to see this dealt with swiftly , the alleged crime is appalling but nothing warrants this reaction , protest (peacefully) as is your right but violence towards the state is pointless and costly in both monetary terms and too your cause IMO. . 

Dare i say it we dont' see protest like this when a "local" person commits such crimes

Major_Disaster76

Well done to the Gardai. To be clear, there are legitimate questions about the immigration and asylum system in this country, and being told "there's no link between this and any problems" (be they housing or cost or crime or anything else) is BS that only gives the loonies the conspiracy theory material they want.

The people organising and fanning these protests are only delighted to hear when an asylum seeker commits a crime - they can get out and torch something to fill a void in their pathetic little lives. They don't represent us at all.

Two things can be true at once, therefore: We have legitimate issues with the way the immigration system works that our political leaders need to get to grips with. And these scrotes are not the outlet the majority of us want or support.

Thoughts with the little girl who is the ultimate victim in all of this.

Willing-Departure115

Just stupid the whole lot of it. Very clearly racially motivated because where the hell is the outrage when children are victims of Irish abusers, systematic abusers. Where are the riots when the lives of innocent people are taken at the hands of men in this country? Ridiculous the lot of it. We are getting angry at the wrong people!

Acceptable_City_9952

They should lock up the rioters, big difference between peacfully protesting and charging guardai on horseback and lighting stuff on fire.... or setting up ethnicity checkpoints like wtf... and you know at least 50% (and thats being kind) of the rioters would vote Conor McGregor if tgey could..... its like the right wing loons in the UK who talk about protecting women when many of their founders have domestic abuse and violent crime convictions....

urmyleander

Few things these riots accomplished:

Nobody talks about the child's case today

We have less vehicles available to gardai

High numbers of guards were tied up here so many other urgencies were neglected, 

People will get prison time for things they did last night

Residents of Saggart were probably shocked with news from ipas centre but are now genuinely scared of rioters more than the asylum seekers

RemnantOfSpotOn

Here is one of the best examples of how dangerous and unregulated social media is.

Using just one facebook group that for a long time organised peaceful protests, around the city west hotel in saggart, and those slow drives on N7 causing havoc for commuters that have nothing to do with the ipas centre.

Now these two posts are still there on their facebook;

They show how these social media groups push agendas by gathering following, pretending to work in a supporting community, and gathering naive people who think they are actually doing something good for their children and organising peacefully to protest.

But notice the big change in narrative before protest and during actual riots. This is why its important if you want to exercise your legal rights to express your opinions, not to associate yourself with the wrong ones.

There will be plenty of normal decent people who will worry today for their image used by extreme racists groups for their own agendas and many will have questions from guards for criminal damage they were part of last night, while racists will post them as "innocent peaceful protester that got pepper sprayed for no reason".

https://preview.redd.it/yobgd7mi9nwf1.jpeg?width=2880&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=c20fbbec20b7b91d4af9cdaefff7702fa5b23e0b

Heard someone say something that resonated with me, how you know that this has everything to do with racism and nothing to do with protecting women and children (apart from the blatantly obvious) is that there is never one fire set, one vigilante mob, or one riot when a white Irish man SA a woman, or a white Irish man SA a child. 


And if this was the reaction every time there was an attack on a woman or child done by a white Irish man there wouldn't be much of a country left  as it would all be ashes.

baboito5177

&gt;A better-trained group of gardaí, with new state-of-the-art equipment designed for urban public order clashes, overwhelmed the protest group, in a way gardaí could not in Dublin city, even though they were vastly outnumbered in Citywest. As the gardaí ran at the crowds, some of those present shouted to each other to “hold your line”, but to no avail amid the stampede to get away.


&gt;Gardaí used larger and more powerful pepper sprays, some as big as fire extinguishers, to target the rioters. Every time a large volume of spray was discharged, it wafted through the air, lingering and forcing a retreat in the crowd for a prolonged period.


Hopefully it's not just pro-Garda reporting and lessons were indeed learned on how to handle these situations.

Ok_Magazine_3383

Thanks to the patriots, everything is now safer /s

LeavingCertCheat

None of these scrotes give an actual shit about immigration or any societal issues happening in this country. 

They're just racists looking for a chance to be violent and destroy things. All on the fucking dole draining our country dry.

Strong-Sector-7605

Great work by the Gardai and I’m relieved that no-one got hurt.

There are certainly problems with our immigration policy that need to be addressed but this isn’t the way. This is misplaced anger being co-opted by the Far Right and degenerating into racism and thuggery. 

Those involved care nothing about the young girl who was attacked in my opinion. They don’t have a brain cell between them and don’t think any more critically than ‘black/brown man bad’.

Wonderful_Flower_751

Hard to say in this instance whether this means the end of the softly, softly approach of the previous commissioner and minister because obviously it was a matter of life and death for the people in the IPAS centre that these thugs could not be permitted entry.

Hopefully though it will be the case that they will come down hard next time. No pasaran!

Cilly2010

Tracksuit enthusiasts up to no good again

MushroomsMushroom

Well done to the Gardai getting it under control. It's horrible what happened to that poor girl but many used it as an excuse for violent protests.

jamster126

The "protesters" had to be up early this morning. They all had a busy day of being unemployed.

MrMahony

They need to go after the Instigators, I live in belfast and my area is rife with these far right thugs, I have been to a few of thier anti immigration protests and it's a only handful of people running the show, giving speachs full of hate an lies and getting the crowed riled up.

fresh_start0

"roared a woman through a loudhailer"

a) This gobshite has no job  
b) Probably robbed the speaker.

Clowns. Fucking clowns with nothing else to do.

Guaranteed she's drawing dole payments.

Fuck off.

And that fucking eejit Paul Treyvard on Twitter. Anybody read his posts? The man is a fucking ape.

Can they fill that water cannon with cattle slurry?  A bit of cow shit sliding down the back of the puffer jacket might leave an impression!!!

RNIRISHDUDE

This has nothing to do with what happened that poor child. This is just destruction for the sake of it.

Dazzling-Toe-4955

Irish law needs some serious changes regarding how young offenders are treated. Every time I read an article involving teenagers or minors, no one ever seems to be in any sort of trouble. Maybe it’s time for parents to be held responsible for their kids’ behavior.

The perfect solution would be this: if your child commits *any* offense, your child benefit is taken away immediately. Second offense? All other allowances are revoked.

I can guarantee we wouldn’t see anything like that happening anymore within a few months.

GroopBob

Hoping it doesn’t kick off tonight again

MrTuxedo1

6 people were arrested at a full blown race riot where a Gardai van was burned.
8 people were arrested at a peaceful Mothers Against Genocide protest.

Says it all really.

oceanclub

Our taxes hard at work paying the guards, the hotel and the jobless scrotes causing the trouble

nh5316

I wonder if the ICCL "observers" were on hand to [do some pearl clutching on how the rioters were treated](https://www.iccl.ie/press-release/report-finds-that-gardai-violated-garda-policies-and-human-rights-obligations-when-policing-protest/)?  Or if they only selectively turn up at protests and selectively choose what they see. Tis a disgrace Joe!

micosoft

Protests escalated into violent riots in Dublin following an alleged sexual assault, leading to clashes with police and highlighting tensions over immigration.

Dublin Protests and Riots Over Alleged Sexual Assault

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want