Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has denied that the Government has been “caving to protesters” opposed to international protection applicants being moved to accommodation in their communities.
Mr Donnelly said the Coalition is “listening carefully” to concerns being raised in places such as Roscrea, Co Tipperary, Carlow town and Ballinrobe, Co Mayo where plans to house asylum seekers, particularly groups of men, have been met by demonstrations leading to plans for who might stay in the centres changing.
He told Newstalk Breakfast that some communities, such as Roscrea, had taken in a lot of new arrivals and he agreed there should be some kind of a dividend for this.
The Government yesterday agreed “in principle” to support a plan to purchase a disused hotel in Roscrea for use as a “community hotel” as part of moves to defuse tensions over the accommodation of asylum seekers in the town.
‘They think they’re no good and that they shouldn’t be in this world’
Jonathan Coe: ‘The morning after the election felt like waking up in a safe room, having been in an abusive relationship for 14 years’
Irish postpunk band Gurriers: ‘Everyone asks about the Dublin music scene. It’s not just Dublin any more, it’s everywhere’
Hugh Linehan: Cillian Murphy’s Small Things Like These has become a cause celebre of the Make Ireland Great Again brigade
“I think if communities are taking people in, we have to look at the health services, the education services,” Mr Donnelly said. “And if you have a town like Roscrea where there are no hotels left because of the amount of people that they have taken, then I believe this proposal, I think might have come from Deputy Jackie Cahill, I think it’s the Government listening and responding and saying, ‘look, we have obligations, but we also have to support communities as they bring people in’.”
There were clashes in Roscrea on Monday between protesters and gardaí as people, including children, were moved into the former Racket Hall Hotel. Mr Donnelly said that what had happened then “should not have happened” and must have been very traumatic for the children and families being brought into what was “essentially their refuge, their new home”.
The proposed site of the community hotel is the former Grant’s Hotel in Roscrea town centre, formerly a 24-bedroom business which has been vacant since it was shut down with the loss of 20 jobs in 2013. The proposal cites the example of a community-owned and managed hotel in Knockatallon, Co Monaghan – the Sliabh Beagh – which was opened in 2000 with funding from post Belfast Agreement funds, as well as other sources.
Mr Cahill, a Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary, later told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that he hoped work on the proposal to purchase the empty hotel in the centre of Roscrea to be turn it into a community facility would commence as quickly as possible.
“We are listening to the people of Roscrea. We fully understand their concerns and we’re putting forward what is a practical plan,” he said. “And while it won’t solve everything, I think it will be a major step in the people realising the Government is listening to them and we’re trying to address the issues you have with the large number of asylum seekers and refugees that you have in the town.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said yesterday that the Government needs to go beyond measures already announced in the Community Recognition Fund – a €50 million fund allocated last year for communities hosting large amounts of migrant accommodation.
Mr Cahill added: “We want a focus to make sure the proper services are there for the significant increase in population that is happening there.”
He said he supported the right to protest, but he hoped that those gathered outside Racket Hall would see that the Government was making a “genuine effort to address their concerns”.
“I would love to see the protest finishing, but that’s a decision for the people who are at Racket Hall.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here