IPAS DEPT & NGO CO-ORDINATED ATTACK ON MISE ÉIRE FESTIVAL

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Hello everyone, hope you're all keeping well.

[00:00:02]Now, I could really use your help with something if you've got a few minutes.

[00:00:05]Would you mind having a listen to this audio clip and tell me if you think I was defamed in it?

[00:00:10]It's from a podcast called Amplify, which is broadcast on my local community radio station here in Castlebar called CRCfm.

[00:00:18]The full podcast is just under 1 hour long, but I'm only going to share just a few minutes with you here from the start of it.

[00:00:24]It features the host of the show, Michael, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, and Caroline Brennan, a community link worker at Southwest Mayo Development Company.

[00:00:34]Now, they don't actually name me, but I am identifiable because I am the main organizer of the event that they're referring to, which took place in the Ivy Tower Hotel last August. So, have a quick listen to this clip.

[00:00:47]>> Three years on from Ireland's National Action Plan against racism, the verdict is in. It's been procedural, not transformative.

[00:00:56]In the second edition of Amplify, community link officer Caroline Brennan, sporting legend Cora Staunton, Minister of State Alan Dillon, and the American activist Dorothy Burke discuss how communities are making racism indefensible, and what it takes to turn moral clarity into real change.

[00:01:17]Listen now. Amplify, giving voice against racism.

[00:01:21]>> You're listening to Amplify, giving voice against racism. I am Mikael Benaze.

[00:01:28]Three years ago, the Irish government adopted the National Action Plan against racism.

[00:01:33]It was meant to be a turning point. But just last month, the special rapporteur on racism, Dr. Ibn Joseph, released a sobering assessment. Implementation has been largely procedural rather than transformative.

[00:01:49]In other words, boxes are being ticked, but real change isn't reaching communities. So, what does create real change?

[00:01:59]Today, we are looking at community response against racism.

[00:02:04]Some moments when ordinary people decide that hatred won't set the agenda.

[00:02:10]We will hear from a community in Mayo that stood up to a far-right festival.

[00:02:16]Live in studio with me, Caroline Brennan, a community link worker with Southwest Mayo Development Company, who organized the response, Mayo Welcomes, to help behind the Castlebar rally that gathered over 1,000 signatures against a far-right event.

[00:02:34]Caroline, last year, a far-right group announced a festival in Castlebar. Instead of ignoring it, the community mobilized a petition, a rally, clear statement.

[00:02:48]Walk us through what happened.

[00:02:51]What was the moment you and others said, "We have to respond"?

[00:02:55]>> Yeah, um so that event was in the Ivy Hotel um at the end of last summer. Um initially, it had been planned to go into Leitrim, uh into a community center there, and when the community found out what it was about, they put together a petition.

[00:03:11]And a lot of celebrities actually signed the petition as well.

[00:03:14]And they got about 1,500 signatures in total, and the event was canceled by the community hall. Um so then the event was then moved to Castlebar, to the Ivy Hotel, and um we did the same thing. We put together a petition. Uh I didn't start the petition.

[00:03:32]Uh it was organized initially by Mayo Against Racism, which is a community group, and it got over well over 2,000 signatures.

[00:03:40]Uh I helped share it with a lot of my colleagues and community groups that I work with.

[00:03:45]Um but unfortunately, the Ivy Hotel decided to go ahead with it anyway.

[00:03:50]Um so because we knew it wasn't being cancelled, uh, I'm part of the steering group of Mayo Welcomes, which is another community group that's for everybody living in Mayo to show inclusion and solidarity with all our new arrivals.

[00:04:04]Um, the same day that the event was happening at the Ivo- Ivy Hotel, there was a Palestinian solidarity march at the same time, which is organized, uh, separately. Um, but it's always on every month in Castlebar.

[00:04:19]So what we did was we invited, um, the group Mayo Welcomes and any of our, uh, colleagues and friends to join the march for Palestine.

[00:04:29]Um, to show the people of Castlebar that there was more, um, community response to what was a very positive message, which was solidarity with Palestine and what's happening at the moment. And it really showed the people of Castlebar cuz the numbers that turned out for the march were far superior to the ones who actually went to the Ivy Hotel that day.

[00:04:52]So it wasn't, um, a protest outside the hotel because, at the end of the day, we all have families and we didn't want to be targeted ourselves by far-right groups because a lot of them can be violent, which is, you know, has been shown in the news and the media. We wanted to show a peaceful response.

[00:05:10]And it it worked really well.

[00:05:12]>> So there you go. What do you think? Have I been defamed?

[00:05:16]A defamatory statement, by the way, for anyone who doesn't know, is a statement tends to injure a person's reputation in the eyes of a reasonable member of society.

[00:05:25]Are you a reasonable member of society?

[00:05:27]And if so, do you think that they injured my reputation?

[00:05:31]And if so, what can I do about it? What should I do about it? And what about the 900 people that attended Misha Era last year?

[00:05:39]Are the thousands of people that support us online? How do you feel about what was said?

[00:05:44]And what can you do about it?

[00:05:46]Probably not an awful lot, but one way you might like to object to what was said is to buy a ticket to the next Misha Era event.

[00:05:54]It takes place again in the Ivy Tower Hotel in Castlebar on Saturday, the 19th of September, and I can tell you now it's going to be the biggest and the best one yet.

[00:06:05]Really looking forward to seeing you all there.

[00:06:07]Oh, and by the way, guess who sponsors this show?

[00:06:11]>> This program has been funded by Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration.

[00:06:17]Ireland's Against Racism Fund 2025.

[00:06:28]>> [music] >> Yahoo!