An Aontú councillor says he refuses to be intimidated after a third threatening incident on his home in Meath, which he believes to be the work of “extreme left-wing” actors who he believes may have begun targeting him after he organised a public meeting opposing an IPAS centre in Trim.
Councillor Dave Boyne, who is based in Trim, posted a photo online of a smashed front window in his home, as he revealed that it was the “third time someone has violated my home”.
In addition to breaking the window in the family home where he lives with his wife and five children, he said that his jeep had previously been covered in eggs, and that someone had then defecated on his property.
“This is the third time someone has violated my home. First my jeep was covered in eggs, then someone defecated on my property, and now this,” he said. “I believe this could be the work of extreme left-wing groups who have targeted me before.”
Mr Boyne told Gript that when he came downstairs on Sunday morning, he found the window had been smashed. He said that he felt the attack was an “escalation” and described those who were targeting his family home as cowards. He has reported the matter to An Garda Síochána, he said.
Cllr Boyne said: “I feel sorry for my wife and five kids, having to face the trauma of these petty, feeble-minded attacks. But I am not intimidated. Whoever they are, they’re too cowardly to meet me face-to-face. I take it all as a compliment — obviously Aontú is doing something right.”
He said that he felt the campaign of harassment begun last May after he had organised a public meeting in regard to a proposal to open an IPAS centre in Trim. He was the only councillor locally who organised such a meeting, he said, and while he described “99% of those who attended as supportive” of his stance opposing the asylum centre, he said that some people immediately described as “racist” anyone “who took a common sense stance in relation to the inability of a community to provide for large amounts of strangers arriving in the town”.
“I have heard of other councillors being hassled. I have been accused of being a fascist and a racist, and I am sometimes publicly accosted by ill-informed people, but this is a new low. This is a criminal act,” he said on social media.
Mr Boyne told Gript that Aontú’s position on immigration was shared by “the vast majority” of Irish people and by people locally in Trim. “We don’t want open border, and we want a border in the Irish sea. Most people want restrictions on immigration, and most people who talk to me feel that change is being foisted on the country without consultation,” he said.
“There was always a Céad Míle Fáílte in Ireland for strangers, but there was also a Slán agus Beanancht as well, because it makes sense that you have to ensure that you can provide for people already living here before you think about throwing the doors open,” the Aontú Councillor said.
“We also want to protect our language and our culture, and it seems me that if we are already struggling to keep our culture alive we need to consider the impact of very rapid population change on that, especially when so many young people are emigrating,” he said.
“Irish people have been living here for thousands of years, our way of life and our culture and our heritage is worth protecting. That’s our right – it’s the right of every people – it doesn’t make us racist or hateful,” he said, adding that people who smashed windows and intimidated families might be more likely to be motivated by hate.
“I don’t hate anyone because of their race, though I’m cognisant that there are people who will twist and distort what our policy is and my stance is,” he said. “But I believe that adding more tensions to the country is ludicrous and doesn’t help anyone – either those who are coming here and those already living here.”
He accused Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of seeming to be “motivated mostly by money”, adding that a small number of people were making millions from asylum accommodation while ordinary families struggled to find housing. “The government should be using the enormous sums they are spending on asylum fairly – and its also fair to help those who are already living here and homeless and houseless,” he said.
“It reminds me what we’re told in swimming lessons as children,” he added. “If you go to save someone in difficulty you have to make sure you don’t both drown. We can’t offer help to everyone, that’s the reality, and pretending otherwise isn’t fair to anyone involved.”
“I am very pleased to represent the people of Trim who were hugely opposed to the IPAS centre, and I think it is deeply wrong that a few bad actors would behave in this way towards me, ” he said. “One of the reasons Aontú is is Ireland’s fastest growing party is because we represent ordinary people’s views on immigration ,” Cllr Boyne said.
In May, Cllr Boyne a public meeting where strong criticism was aired of a proposal to turn a unit in a Trim industrial estate into asylum accommodation. Local group, Trim Says No, were also strongly opposed to the proposal.
“As a county councillor for Trim, I am raising urgent concerns about a proposed International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre in the town. The facility is to be located in a building within an industrial estate—an unsuitable location by any reasonable standard. This development has come without consultation, transparency, or regard for the serious infrastructural and community challenges it poses,” he said at the time.
“Trim has suffered from critical water outages consistently over the past three years. Our current infrastructure is barely able to support the existing population. We have major problems with the lack of doctors in the town and the lack of Gardaí. This town is at breaking point on a range of different key services,” he added.
“The proposed building itself is highly inappropriate. It is not suitable for families or children to live in.” He said the building contained no kitchen facilities and just one toilet, which he described as being “grossly inadequate” for the “300 residents expected”
“This is not a humanitarian solution—it’s a shortcut at the expense of vulnerable people and local community welfare,” Cllr Boyne said.
“Even more troubling is the complete absence of consultation with elected representatives or the local population. I only became aware of this plan on 2nd May, with a decision set to be finalised by 30th May. This leaves little time for public input and reinforces the perception that proper planning laws are being selectively applied. While ordinary citizens and businesses must adhere to rigorous planning requirements, this project seems to bypass them entirely”.
Following the smashed window at Cllr Boyne’s home, Aontú has called on authorities to take political intimidation seriously and ensure that “all public representatives can carry out their duties free from harassment or violence.”