A woman was arrested last night and has since been charged with public order offences following a protest outside a school in Drimnagh.
A crowd of people protested the use of the Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in Drimnagh to temporarily house refugees over the Christmas period. The refugees who had recently fled Ukraine have since been moved on and cleaning staff were in the premises last night to prepare it for reopening tomorrow.
The woman arrested, who is in her 40s, is due to face court at a later date. A further protest took place at the premises this evening despite assurances that it is now empty.
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A Department of Integration spokeswoman told Dublin Live: "The premises had been used temporarily during the Christmas and New Year period, but has now been vacated by the Department."
A statement from the school read: "For some of the Christmas break, a small section of the school building was used as emergency accommodation by the Department of Integration... This happened between December 23 and January 3 and is now over. The school will reopen as normal for staff and students tomorrow morning, Thursday January 5."
TDs and councillors of the area issued a statement this evening supporting the Department's use of the school over the Christmas period. It said: "We support the decision made by the board of management at Our Lady of Mercy secondary school, Drimnagh to allow Ukrainians stay in the school over Christmas while the school was closed. This was the right and proper thing to do. These people were fleeing the war in Ukraine and were in urgent need of accommodation. They left yesterday, allowing the school to prepare for the reopening tomorrow."
It was signed by TDs Aengus O'Snodaigh, Patrick Costello, Brid Smith and Joan Collins as well as Dublin South Central councillors Daithi Doolan, Vincent Jackson, Sophie Nicoullaud, Daithi DeRoiste and Hazel de Nortuin.
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