Newtown GAA club was not ordered to close by gardaí due to anti-asylum seeker protests

Photos of the barriers emerged on social media on Friday, amid ongoing protests against the potential housing of 160 international protection applicants in the Wicklow town.

Last Thursday, a protest against Trudder House being possibly used for this purpose led to violent clashes between gardaí and demonstrators and the arrests of six people.

Five of those people were charged, while the sixth was released without charge, with subsequent protests having taken place in Newtownmountkennedy over the weekend.

On Saturday, when asked if An Garda Siochana had ordered the closure of Newtown GAA club, a spokesperson said: “An Garda Siochana has not ‘ordered’ the closure of any premises or sporting facility.

“As an unfortunate consequence of the violent disorder that took place on the 25th April 2024 An Garda Síochána continues to have a temporary road closure in place along Trudder Road, Newtownmountkennedy.

“As with any road closure that An Garda Síochána implements as part of a policing operation An Garda Síochána engages and consults with affected stakeholders and aims to facilitate access to affected premises.

“An Garda Síochána is in a position to provide access to any affected premises, if and when affected stakeholders are happy to do so.

“An Garda Síochána continues to be aware of significant levels of misinformation and disinformation continuously being propagated, primarily on social media and messaging apps.

“It is not just the responsibility of An Garda Síochána to challenge this misinformation circulating in society but also the responsibility of mainstream civic society and media.”

In a statement on Monday, Newtown GAA confirmed that the club facilities were open to members for training and matchdays.

It read: “As there have been many rumours and accusations in relation to Newtown GAA, we feel we need to clarify a few items.

“Our first contact from the gardaí was on St Patrick’s Day, to ask for a key for the club grounds so members of the community could use the car park, on safety grounds, which the club committee voted on.

“The key was passed over following this vote. This key was returned last Saturday week.

“We need to stress that at no stage were we aware that barriers were being erected last week until we saw the images as everybody else did.

“We were not consulted by, nor was permission sought by any authority at any stage. Our Chairperson immediately contacted the gardaí and was informed that an order was in force (an order that has been signed pursuant to Section 21 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. This specifically in relation to the area and in the interests of safety and for the purpose of preserving order) but they will continue to review the situation.

“Our chairperson has repeatedly insisted that we need access to our grounds immediately.

“We subsequently received an email at 7:56pm on Friday evening from the gardaí advising us of this order and in that email confirming that access to the pitch and club for training, matches, etc. would be fully granted by the gardaí.

“At no stage did we decide to, or were we asked to, close our grounds for any length of time.

“We have been proactive at all times regarding our club facilities. It is important for our club to stay united, regardless of individual opinions, and make sure we do our best to ensure the minimum disruption to our members' training and matches, juveniles in particular.”