A Dun Laoghaire councillor says a rock thrown through his father’s window in the middle of the night was "like a bomb" coming into the house.

The rock had a sinister note attached to it, warning Independent Cllr Hugh Lewis to stop helping refugees.

Gardaí are now investigating and have taken both the rock and the note in for forensic examination.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Cllr Lewis said his 78-year-old father is ‘very shook’ after the attack.

Cllr Hugh Lewis outside his home after the attack.

“He was sitting watching television on his own,” he said. “He lives on his own, my mother passed away a number of months ago.

“On Monday at around 11:45pm, a rock thrown was thrown through his front window with a note attached urging me to desist from helping ‘effing refugees’ as it was put – and that this would be my final warning.”

He said whoever threw the rock was targeting him rather than his father.

“This is my family home,” he said. “I was born into this house, I’ve lived here most of my life and people would associate this house with me living here, so it was very much aimed at targeting me.”

“The note said, ‘Hugh, stop ‘effing’ helping refugees. This is your last warning.’

Cllr Hugh Lewis says a rock attack on his father’s home was “very intimidating and scary” – but it won’t change how he lives his life. pic.twitter.com/s6f8GRImNh

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) July 19, 2023

Cllr Lewis said his father is now recovering after the attack.

“He is quite shook obviously,” he said. “Nobody would expect to have to put up with that, but obviously, at his age, yeah, he was very shook.

“He described it as like a bomb coming in through the window.

“It was thrown with a lot of force. Enough force to put a clean hole in two of the layers and come in.

“Only for my dad had, luckily, tucked the curtains into the radiator behind him, a lot of the debris would have come in on top of him.

“Luckily, that didn’t happen.”

Asylum seekers

The Dun Laoghaire Cllr said he was targeted because he has been urging asylum seeker protesters to direct their anger at the Government instead of refugees.

“I have a longstanding record of campaigning against Government policies that have actually led us to the housing and cost-of-living crises we have at the moment,” he said.

“I think, very clearly, people were targeting me because of my comments and statements in the last number of weeks urging people not to target asylum seekers and warning that their anger needs to be placed at the doors of decision makers and not asylum seekers or anybody else.”

He said it is “fruitless and completely pointless” protesting against asylum seekers when it is lawmakers who are responsible for the housing and cost-of-living crises.