Dublin councillor slammed for saying Ireland is ‘not safe’ and urging tourists to stay away
Dublin councillor Gavin Pepper has been slammed for telling American media that Ireland is not a safe country and appealing to tourists to stay away.
The comments were made in a recent news segment on Fox News’ digital platform, several days after the murder of American mother-of-one Jamey Carney in Killarney, Co Kerry.
Independent councillor Gavin Pepper represents Ballymun-Finglas, approximately 260km from Killarney as the crow flies.
Ms Carney’s boyfriend, Ahmad al-Saqar (28), who is described as a “person of interest” in the ensuing garda investigation, has since been detained in his native Jordan.
“My appeal to the American citizens who are watching this, don’t come to Ireland. It’s not safe,” Mr Pepper told the news channel.
“How could you class Ireland as a safe country when they don’t even release the identity of an individual who is wanted in question relation to the death of one of your own citizens.
“I am not shocked by this. I am not surprised by this. In fact, it’s got to this stage, it’s just another day in Ireland. That’s how bad Ireland has got,” he said, before claiming that Irish people were being “put in danger” by migrants.
Junior minister for foreign affairs Neale Richmond blasted the remarks in a statement to the Irish Independent, saying Ireland is very safe by international standards.
“Last year we welcomed 1.5m visitors from North America to Ireland, these visits are massively important to our economy; so to see an elected representative, a self-styled patriot no less, deliberately and falsely run down our country on one of the US’s most viewed networks is truly baffling,” said the Fine Gael TD.
“Ultimately, the councillor’s interview was littered with inaccuracies and falsehoods. Whether the councillor likes it or not, by international standards, Ireland is a very safe country, ranked the second safest by the global peace index and consistently scoring in the top 10 UN categories positively in terms of crime rates, freedom of expression, rule of law and much more.”
A Fáilte Ireland spokesperson said Ireland was “a safe place to visit and live in”, and pointed to funding they provide to the free Tourist SOS hotline, which assists visitors to Ireland who are victims of crime or traumatic events.