BREAKING NEWS: THE BATTLE OF COOLOCK ENDS IN TOTAL GAELIC VICTORY
A plan to house asylum seekers on the grounds of the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock, North Dublin, has been abandoned.
The Department of Justice will not proceed with the project — which sparked continuous protests and even rioting last year — it was announced today.
Construction workers suffered abuse and threats on site by trespassers, with one security workers requiring hospital treatment for injuries sustained on the site. Staff had to lock themselves in after the Garda public order unit was withdrawn one morning before serious disorder and destruction broke out.
That withdrawal has been the subject of an internal review, but it seriously undermined the willingness of workers, at least one of whom was badly injured and hospitalised as a result of the rioting, to go back on site.
The protests went on for weeks, with much disruption of traffic on a daily basis. But the Department of Justice, in a letter to local TDs and councillors, said today it was no longer seeking to establish an Ipas centre on the site.
There were also multiple fires lit on the site. In one week, three fires were lit at the site on three consecutive days.