The quiet community of Roscahill is reeling after international media focused on an arson attack on the village’s disused hotel which had been earmarked for refugee accommodation before Christmas.
Media outlets from New Zealand, India, America and Europe reported that dormitory cubicles for 70 people were under construction in the function room to the rear of The Ross Lake Hotel when fire broke out late on Saturday night. No injuries were reported.
“It’s awful. It’s so stressful on all of us,” one local resident told the Advertiser.
Another Roscahill native said: “Whoever did this has destroyed [our] reputation for decades. The place is full at Christmastime, and they torched a f*****g inn for poor unfortunates... biblical idiocy.”
Gardaí have been carrying out door-to-door enquiries between Oughterard and Moycullen since Monday morning. They quizzed locals living on the maze of boreens around Ross Lake Hotel – formerly the 1200-acre Killaguille estate if they had CCTV or doorcam footage. A number of nearby residents are understood to have been away over the weekend.
Speaking at a Policing Authority meeting on Tuesday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris hinted investigators suspected local involvement, not anti-immigration extremists from outside the area.
"The premises were very remote, very difficult to find, and – regrettably - the suspects in respect of that are most probably living quite close in that area," he said.
Over the past five years, at least 11 premises outside Co Dublin earmarked for refugee accommodation have been damaged by fire. No successful prosecutions have been reported.
Rumours and accusations have swirled around Rosscahill’s neighbouring communities since news and a video of the suspected arson attack spread online over the weekend.
At least two community Whatsapp groups – which normally discuss traffic info or sports events – have been closed down by administrators after a surge of heated debate concerning the arson attack began to dominate. A third, newer chat group, set-up to coordinate tea and coffee deliveries for protesters picketing the entrance of Ross Lake Hotel since last Friday, is understood to have been closed down almost immediately after news of the fire spread.
A portacabin and brazier erected by protesters on a leafy access road to Ross Lake Hotel were also removed during the week.
Built in 1850, the premises has been a hotel and wedding venue since 1969. The current owners are from Texas, and it has been reported they ultimately intend to renovate the empty hotel as a private home. Locals sources say the owners' possessions, including irreplaceable family heirlooms and photographs, were destroyed in the fire.
Fox News, MSN, The New York Times, Polish TV channels, the Times of India, Yahoo New Zealand and several British media outlets including the BBC, Sky News, the Guardian, Daily Mail, Express, The Sun and others all reported on the fire this week. Newswires syndicated the story worldwide.
