Fiery protests broke out in Dublin on Tuesday evening after a hotel migrant was accused of raping a 10-year-old girl who was under the protection of the state.
A 26-year-old African migrant — whose identity is being withheld from the public due to reporting restrictions — appeared before the Blanchardstown District Court on Tuesday after being charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Irish girl at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Monday morning.
The government was reportedly housing the suspected migrant child rapist in the hotel, which has been converted into a government accommodation for supposed asylum seekers, The Irish Times reported.
According to the Irish Mirror, the 10-year-old alleged victim was also under the care of the government at the time of the suspected rape, with her family previously seeking help for behavioural issues from the state’s Tusla Child and Family Agency.
Tusla said that during a recreational trip to Dublin city centre on Monday, the young girl “absconded” and fled to “a relative’s home, again absconding from that house later in the evening.” She later told Tusla staff that “she had been involved in a serious incident” before fleeing the care agency.
The accused migrant rapist, who has been granted legal aid and an Arabic translator, told the court on Tuesday: “I have nothing to say.” He is set to appear before the Cloverhill District Court, Dublin, on Wednesday morning.
The case sparked immediate outrage in Dublin, and around a thousand protesters gathered outside of the migrant hotel on Tuesday evening.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – OCTOBER 21: Protesters wave the Irish flag next to bins set on fire on October 21, 2025 in Dublin, Ireland. Protesters have gathered outside the Citywest Hotel in Dublin after police arrested a foreign national male in his thirties on Sunday for the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl. (Photo by Natalia Campos/Getty Images)
The Times reported that clashes broke out as protesters attempted to storm the police barricade around the hotel, with demonstrators throwing bricks and setting off fireworks at officers. Additionally, a police van was burnt out.
In response to the disorder, another unit of police was deployed to the scene, with officers on horseback and a water cannon being used to disperse the crowds.
Dublin police purchased the water cannon following riots which broke out in the Irish capital in November of 2023 after a migrant stabbed three young children outside of a school.
Like in neighbouring England, migrant hotels have increasingly become a flashpoint for protests and riots in Ireland, with numerous locations facing arson attacks after being leaked as prospective housing sites for supposed asylum seekers.
That a vulnerable 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped while under the care of the government’s child protection agency has sparked particular outrage and has resulted in the government launching a review as a “matter of urgency” into potential failings.
Minister for Children Norma Foley said on Tuesday that she has tapped the National Review Panel to conduct the investigation into the “very, very worrying case”.
“I think it’s our human instinct really to want to mind and to guard and protect a child. And I’m really, really conscious that at the heart of this is a child, and I want to say that that child is very much in my thoughts, and, like the rest of the country, in our thoughts and indeed in our heart,” she said.
Onlookers film a police vehicle burning as a demonstration outside a hotel housing asylum seekers turns violent in Saggart, south-west of Dublin in Ireland on October 21, 2025. (Photo by Peter MURPHY / AFP) (Photo by PETER MURPHY/AFP via Getty Images)
However, others have argued that the case demonstrates the need to change Ireland’s immigration policies and to embark on mass deportations.
Independent parliamentarian Carol Nolan said: “The justice system and the international protection system has been captured in recent years by this kind of bleeding-heart approach to violent and dangerous offenders who have absolutely no right to be here. I am sick and tired of having our concerns about these issues dismissed or minimised.”
“This tragic case must represent a line in the sand. Are we going to continue on with our half-hearted and pathetic attempts to restore order and integrity to the international protection system or are we going to finally find the courage to say, enough. No more putting our children and women at risk. No more imposing obscene costs on to the taxpayer to fund this carnival of criminality. No more.”
“This child will need dedicated support and attention. She must have that. Tusla will need to be hauled in for this catastrophic failure of care. And the political class which has remained silent on these issues will have their reckoning when the electorate finally realises that they have sat back and attacked anyone who tried to highlight these concerns,” Deputy Nolan said.
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