Dungannon is not on the diplomatic radar of many countries, but the town in Co Tyrone with a population of 11,000 will soon accommodate a Lithuanian consulate.

The Baltic state is setting up a temporary consulate to cater for the migrant workers who have flocked there. The Lithuanian Embassy is particularly concerned about hate crimes against the workers.

Police in Northern Ireland have reported a marked increase in the number of attacks against the tens of thousands of immigrants there from Eastern Europe in recent years.

Dungannon and the surrounding area is one of the province’s hate crime hotspots.

Vygaudas Usackas, the Lithuanian Ambassador to Britain, described the attacks as astonishing. “I’m very concerned about the continuous attacks against Lithuanians. I’ve been told by the authorities that there were 64 attacks registered by the police since April. It’s hard to comprehend why it’s happening.”

Mr Usackas will visit Dungannon for the second time in three months today in an effort to cement consular services in the town, which is 50 miles west of Belfast.

The temporary consul will use staff on rotation from London and will be housed by the Dungannon and South Tyrone Council, which today is holding a Lithuanian day in honour of the Ambassador’s visit.

Mr Usackas said: “We are also here to reach out to the Lithuanian community, to encourage them to organise themselves and to talk to local authorities.

“I’m carrying the message that as a member state of the EU we enjoy rights of free movement, but that we must not forget we are guests here and must respect traditions and rules here.”

He said that most Lithuanians arrived in Northern Ireland unaware of its recent history and confident that it was a safe place to earn money.

Jim Hamilton, the Mayor of Dungannon, said that their contribution to the local economy had been essential. “Without those workers, some of our food and meat industries and small engineering works would have gone overseas. They have kept those industries here,” he said.

“There’s no doubt that there are some racially motivated attacks on migrant workers, but in relation to the size of the population they are minimal.”

In a series of attacks against Lithuanian and Polish homes near Dungannon in September bricks were thrown through windows, carrying notes saying that foreign nationals were not welcome.

Cecil Rea, a local man whose home was also targeted, said at the time that he had lost count of the number of racially motivated attacks on his neighbours. “The people that are being attacked are hard-working, good people who don’t cause any bother whatsoever. I should know, I’m their neighbour,” he said. He told the Belfast News Letter that he believed his home was also attacked because he was friendly with his Lithuanian and Polish neighbours.

Hate crime fell last year in Northern Ireland after several years of escalation. But relations are still fraught in some areas, particularly south Belfast, where homes of immigrants were attacked last year by mobs wielding baseball bats.

In March a 51-year-old Polish man was beaten with a hammer on the same day that residents held a demonstration against “antisocial behaviour” by immigrants from Eastern Europe.

Hate attacks

4,000 Number of registered Lithuanians in Northern Ireland

736 Ulster’s total of recorded racist incidents, January 1 to November 14, 2006

15 Percentage of the population of Dungannon and South Tyrone who are immigrant workers

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