Protests at several locations in Ireland started in early November 2022 after the development of sites in various parts of the country as asylum seeker shelters by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), as it attempted to accommodate the influx of 65,000 asylum seekers during 2022. Protests were held in East Wall, Ballymun, Drimnagh and elsewhere in Dublin; Fermoy and Mallow in County Cork; Kill, County Kildare; Lismore, County Waterford; Mullingar, County Westmeath; Inch, County Clare; and Rosslare Harbour, County Wexford.

The protests, which the Garda Síochána say numbered 307 in 2022 and at least a further 169 , raised concerns over the lack of provision of prior information to local residents and concerns around the impact that local population growth, due to accommodating asylum seekers, had on facilities and housing. Protesters have questioned the lack of women and children in some accommodation centres where there have been a high proportion of single males. Some protesters have also been influenced by rumours purporting asylum seekers carrying out violent or threatening acts that have been shown to be often baseless. Additionally, Gardaí stated in March 2023 that there has not been an increase in crime as a result of international protection applicants nor a need for increased presence near the shelters. Garda Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis reported that both attendance and frequency of protests "appeared to reach a peak" in March 2023.

The presence of anti-immigrant protesters, members of far-right groups and violent criminals at these protests has been highlighted online and in the mainstream media, and 17 people have been arrested at the protests in 2023 . Some far-right protesters have been labelled as "hijackers" of the protests' true purpose and some demonstrations have been described as misrepresentative of local sentiment. Politicians have commented on the protests including Leo Varadkar (the Taoiseach at the time) who said said locals cannot veto "the kind of people who get to live in their area", and the topic has been raised in Seanad Éireann and in a joint committee with Dáil Éireann. Plans for better consultation with locals have been put in place and government handling has been both defended and criticised within the Oireachtas.

Background Protests at several locations in the north and west of the Republic of Ireland started in November 2018 against the placement of refugees in direct provision centres in rural locations. Proposed refugee shelters were firebombed in Moville and Roosky, as was politician Martin Kenny's car in Ballinamore after he spoke in defence of refugees, and demonstrations were held in Roosky, Oughterard, Ballinamore, Carrickmacross and Achill. What was the Minister of Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan and others claimed the 25 November 2018 fire at a hotel-turned-direct provision centre a week before 100 asylum seekers were going to move in was arson.

Anti-immigrant members of far-right groups were involved in some of the protests. Politicians and others took different positions on the protests, with some supporting them and others criticising them.

In February 2022, a major international refugee crisis occurred following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with millions of Ukrainians displaced. Alongside almost all other European countries, Ireland accepted Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war; by mid-November 2022 over 58,000 Ukrainians had come to Ireland. November 2022 was also the beginning of the protests against the development of sites as temporary refugee shelters by the DCEDIY. Since the mid-2010s, Ireland has been experiencing a housing and accommodation crisis; the simultaneous overlap of both crises exacerbated each other; the failure to provide housing meant that refugees could not expect to find much accommodation in Ireland, and the arrival of thousands of refugees in Ireland meant further strains on housing and accommodation demands that were already peaking. The crises of accommodation were in spite of over 130,000 empty homes in Ireland in 2022.

Chronology From late 2022, a wave of anti-immigration protests emerged across Ireland, triggered by the government's use of hotels, convents, former office buildings and other vacant properties to house asylum seekers and refugees. A recurring grievance across virtually all incidents was the perceived lack of prior consultation with local communities. The protests were often accompanied by misinformation spread on social media, and were frequently exploited by far-right organisations including the National Party, the Irish Freedom Party and Ireland First, who used them to promote Euroscepticism, extreme Irish nationalism and, in some cases, pro-Russian ideology.

The first major flashpoint came in November 2022 in East Wall, Dublin, where protests erupted over the conversion of the Two Gateway Building, a former ESB Group office block, into an emergency accommodation centre for around 100 male asylum seekers. The protests were organised by the "East Wall Protest Committee", led by solicitor and former Workers' Party member Malachy Steenson. Protesters blocked the Dublin Port Tunnel on multiple occasions and later disrupted access to the East-Link toll bridge, Samuel Beckett Bridge and Busáras. Far-right figures such as Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party used the protests to attack a range of unrelated culture-war targets. Similar protests took place in Fermoy, County Cork in the same period, where Derek Blighe of Ireland First addressed a crowd of roughly 70 people; a counter-demonstration of up to 300 people was subsequently organised by Fermoy and Mallow Against Racism. Protests also occurred in Kill, County Kildare, where a fire broke out at the earmarked equestrian centre shortly after demonstrations, and an anti-immigrant motorcade protest of between 100 and 200 vehicles was later organised.

Escalation in 2023 Through 2023, the pattern of protest intensified and, in several cases, crossed into criminality. In January of that year, protesters assembled in Drimnagh based on false information that a school was being permanently converted to house refugees, leading to one arrest. In Ballymun, protesters blocked the M50 using sulkies and demonstrations took place outside a Travelodge housing 221 international protection seekers. In Ashtown, a migrant tent camp on the banks of the River Tolka was attacked by a group of men with dogs and a baseball bat; a migrant solidarity rally of around 200 people followed. In Finglas, a protest of around 200 people was accompanied by the Garda Public Order Unit in riot gear, and a local far-right activist, Graham Carey, was subsequently arrested and charged with incitement to hatred after posting threats online. The attacks in both Finglas and Ashtown were motivated by false rumours about migrant crime.

Attacks on physical property also became increasingly common. A 19th-century building on Sherrard Street in Dublin was set ablaze in January 2023 following rumours it would house refugees, and a fire broke out at the former Crown Paint factory site in Coolock during protests in July 2024. On Upper Sandwith Street in February 2023, an anti-immigration group attacked a refugee camp and set fire to tents, leading to one arrest on arson charges. A similar incident occurred in Ringsend in late December 2023, where a suspected arson attack destroyed the former Shipwright pub, which had been earmarked for homeless families. Arson attacks were also recorded in Brittas, County Dublin, Tallaght, and at a hotel in Rosscahill, Oughterard, County Galway, where four people were eventually arrested.

In September 2023, a large and aggressive demonstration was held at Leinster House, with around 200 protesters blocking TDs and Oireachtas staff from entering or leaving. A mock gallows with an effigy and portraits of politicians, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Roderic O'Gorman, was erected. Bottles of urine were alleged to have been thrown at Gardaí, thirteen people were arrested, and the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, described the conduct of protesters as "fascist-like". Beyond Dublin, significant protests took place in Mullingar at Columb Barracks, in County Clare where protesters blockaded a hotel at Inch and allegedly boarded a bus to conduct a headcount of asylum seekers, and in Rosslare Harbour, where around 1,000 people attended a blockade affecting ferry traffic at Rosslare Europort.

November 2023 Dublin riot

Later incidents Protests continued into 2024 and 2025. The Coolock protests, which began in March 2024 at the site of the former Crown Paint factory, became among the most prolonged and violent, with multiple arson attacks, petrol bombs and bricks thrown at Gardaí and firefighters, improvised incendiary devices seized nearby, and 21 people arrested over one weekend in July 2024. Taoiseach Simon Harris described the scenes as "reprehensible".

In April 2025, a "National Protest" march organised by Malachy Steenson drew over 10,000 people from the Garden of Remembrance to the Custom House, endorsed publicly by Conor McGregor and notable for the mass display of Irish tricolour flags. In October 2025, a riot broke out outside the Citywest IPAS Centre in Saggart, triggered by the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl by a resident of the centre; up to 2,000 demonstrators gathered before unrest broke out, with Gardaí attacked using fireworks, rocks and bottles, a Garda vehicle set alight, and attempts made to breach a police cordon using horse-drawn sulkies. Days later, on 31 October 2025, an IPAS centre in Drogheda was deliberately set alight using an accelerant and fireworks, with four children rescued from the top floor of the building.

Other issues raised

Lack of accommodation The government's failure to find accommodation for asylum seekers has been criticised by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the latter saying that Ireland was in breach of their international obligations, specifically referring to an EU directive. It has also been raised by protesters to support the Ireland is Full movement, but Minister O'Gorman of the DCEDIY said the shortage is "short-term" and that "as a system, as a State, we can continue to fulfill our legal obligations and our moral obligations".

Gardaí handling The Policing Authority condemned unlawful escalations at the protests and applauded the Gardaí's balancing of the safeguarding of people and the right to protest after middle-ranking Gardaí joined those working at the frontline of the protests in raising concerns over the frontline being "grossly undertrained" for the escalating protests.