The mainstream media describe it as a Direct Provision Centre, but Magowna House Hotel in Inch, Co. Clare is anything but - unfit for purpose and in a state of decay. It was so unsuitable for habitation, the locals blockaded the entry points into the hotel in May 2023 demanding answers. Why was the State bussing men from countries and cultures incompatible with Ireland into a rural setting without any consultation with locals? Why were some of these men unvetted and allowed entry to the country without proper documentation? What if they had criminal records? What if they posed a threat to locals? Why were they all men? Where were the women and children ‘fleeing war’? Wasn’t it strange the men were all of military age? How come they came from countries with no wars while calling themselves refugees?
These were fair questions but the locals were portrayed as ‘racist’ and ‘right wing’ for asking them and eventually relented under media pressure. Still, their blockade inspired other locals across Ireland to protect their domains and protest outside so-called IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Service) centres against the arrival of more men of fighting age from foreign lands that have no connection to Ireland.
Citizen journalist Philip Dwyer’s coverage of the Magowna House Hotel story showed up the mainstream media’s soft questions and government sponsored angles aimed at managing the crisis for public perception. He was asking all the wrong questions, from the government’s perspective, at least. He even dared to approach the hotel and ask for the manager. This is what journalists do, or what they should do. Especially on matters of grave public importance.
Today (March 19, 2025) at Ennis District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett fined Philip Dwyer €500 for trespass despite video evidence proving he was simply asking uncomfortable questions (politely) in the car park of the hotel, as journalists must, considering the gravity of the topic. He left in a timely fashion after asking those appropriate questions. It is a matter of public concern that journalists have the right to investigate illegal activity that poses a threat to the native Irish and should not be hindered by the State as they go about their business.
Instead we have a situation where the journalist gets the fine as a deterrent to others to stay away and to leave it to the State-sponsored mainstream media to ‘welcome refugees’ and keep prying eyes and questions at bay.
Mr Dwyer is appealing the fine.
View the full broadcast of Philip Dwyer’s livestream from Magowna House Hotel in County Clare, on May 18, 2023, HERE and decide for yourselves if he was trespassing or simply asking awkward questions in a hotel car park.
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