Man is stabbed to death at Irish centre housing migrants as police arrest another man in his 40s

A man was stabbed to death and two others wounded in the early hours of Saturday at Ballymullen Barracks, a former army base in Tralee that has been used as asylum-seeker accommodation since May 2024. The Irish Times reports that the dead man and both wounded men are believed to be Somali nationals, as is the man arrested at the scene.

The IPAS centre at Ballymullen operates under a one-year agreement with Ireland's Department of Defence and is permitted to accommodate up to 50 single male asylum seekers.

A man in his 40s is being held at a Kerry Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 while detectives gather witness statements from others who were present when the altercation broke out.

Ireland's Department of Justice has declared a 'critical incident' and the State Pathologist has been called to the scene for a post-mortem.