ENoMW Statement
ENoMW – the European Network of Migrant Women – expresses its deep concern and unequivocal condemnation following the deliberate arson attack on a residential building managed by International Protection Accommodation Services in Ireland. The building housed asylum-seeking women, men and children, including babies, who were forced to flee for their lives.
What We Know
CCTV footage shows a masked individual breaking into the building, pouring a flammable liquid, and setting it alight. Five people – among them four children and a baby – were rescued from the top floor and taken to hospital. Approximately 28 residents lived in the centre; many have now been evacuated and temporarily relocated.
The Garda Síochána have launched a full investigation, treating the incident as arson, attempted murder, and reckless endangerment, due to the deliberate blocking of stairways and targeting of residents. This attack marks a dangerous escalation in violence against accommodation centres for asylum-seekers and refugees in Ireland.
Not an Isolated Attack
The November 2025 arson is not an isolated act. Government reports show 33 arson attacks between August 2023 and August 2024 on existing or planned accommodation for asylum-seekers.
Incidents have included attacks on City Quay, Dublin (2024); Citywest, Finglas (2022); Shannon Key West Hotel (2019); and Caiseal Mara Hotel, Donegal (2018).
This pattern reveals a disturbing trend of anti-refugee hostility turning violent.
This Is Male Violence
ENoMW identifies this act as part of the broader continuum of male violence against women and girls.
While media coverage has not framed the arson explicitly as “men attacking women,” the fact that women and children were primary victims makes it a case of sex-based violence.
Women asylum-seekers face compound vulnerabilities – as refugees, as women, and as individuals often placed in mixed or unsafe accommodation. The design of these facilities, combined with isolation and inadequate oversight, can increase exposure to male violence.
The attacker’s method – blocking escape routes, trapping women and children, instilling fear – mirrors the dynamics of domestic and structural male violence. It demonstrates how patriarchal patterns of control and domination can manifest collectively and politically, targeting women for their vulnerability and “otherness.”
No woman should flee violence only to encounter it again on European soil.
Xenophobia and the Social Climate
This attack reflects the increasingly hostile climate toward refugees and migrants across Ireland and Europe.
While not all acts are coordinated by organised far-right groups, the spread of xenophobic rhetoric, online hate, and local agitation fuels a dangerous environment where violence becomes normalised.
When refugees are framed as “burdens,” “outsiders,” or “threats”, public discourse legitimises exclusion and encourages attacks.
This rhetoric also ignores how misogyny, racism and xenophobia intersect – with migrant and refugee women often the first to experience their combined impact.
Refugee Women’s Safety and Integration
Despite hosting a relatively small share of asylum applicants compared to other EU states, Ireland’s accommodation system is under severe strain, with many people left unaccommodated or placed in mixed-sex centres.
This contradicts the Istanbul Convention, which requires single-sex accommodation and safety provisions for women survivors of violence.
Ireland must implement sex-based risk assessments in the design and operation of all refugee facilities, ensure women-only spaces, and provide access to specialised women’s services and refugee-led organisations.
Integration must be both quantitative and qualitative – combining access to housing, education, employment, and language support with measures to counter xenophobia and misogyny in communities.
ENoMW’s Call to the Irish Authorities
ENoMW is profoundly saddened by this violent act of terrorism against women and children.
We call on the Government of Ireland and relevant authorities to:
- Conduct a full and transparent investigation, ensuring those responsible are prosecuted;
- Provide immediate relocation, medical, and psychological support to all affected women and children;
- Implement stronger protection and monitoring mechanisms in all accommodation centres housing women and families;
- Fulfil Ireland’s obligations under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Istanbul Convention, and the Reception Conditions Directive, guaranteeing safety, non-discrimination and humane living conditions for all persons seeking protection.
As a feminist organisation advocating for migrant and refugee women across Europe, ENoMW stands in solidarity with the survivors of this attack and with all women facing male violence.