Our TDs, not refugees, have fractured Ireland

THE pain caused by a missed opportunity was easily detected in the words of Ballaghaderreen businessman Micheál Frain. ‘They could have held us up as an example of best practice,’ he told Jenny Friel in this newspaper on Saturday.

‘Instead, it’s come back to bite us and there are a lot of people who are very fed up.’

The dispatch from this west of Ireland town should be urgent reading for anyone in authority.

It provided compelling evidence of the goodness and generosity common to most Irish people – and the appalling failure of the State to match it.

Misgivings

The town, on the Mayo-Roscommon border, welcomed Syrian refugees in 2017, with an Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre located there.

There were some local misgivings, but the overwhelming response was decent and charitable. Promises of intensive supports were made.

And then Ballaghaderreen and its people, natives and newcomers, were forgotten about.

And in the years since, a slew of problems have emerged that make daily life much harder. Access to doctors and dentists is limited, school space is at a premium, and long-standing issues around insufficient public transport remain unaddressed.

These are complaints common to every town in the country, and they make the reluctance of communities to welcome refugees more understandable.

Stories abound of the problems people face in getting medical appointments, and in areas often blighted by limited employment opportunities.

Transport is a countrywide problem, with moral pressure to limit car use for the sake of the environment squeezing on one side, and on the other the lamentable state of bus services.

To some residents in struggling towns, the thought of dozens or hundreds more arrivals competing for scarce resources triggers a hostile reaction.

The simplest response is to blame this on inherent racism, or on the far right exploiting the gullibility of hapless yokels.

It is desperately unfair and patently dishonest.

This isn’t about racism; it’s not even about refugees.

It’s about the ongoing abandonment of swathes of the country.

The extent of the decline of rural Ireland, and the complicity of the political process and State authorities in its slide, has been laid bare by the immigration crisis.

The people of Ballaghaderreen did everything expected of them, and as a result they were given prizes and attracted the attention of the BBC.

Today, they are struggling, and they must wonder if anyone else cares at all.

A national school in the reception centre, which was staffed by four teachers and helped prepare children for life in an Irish schoolroom, was shut down in September.

There was no consultation around the decision, with the regular school expected to take up the burden. Requests for more supports have been rejected.

Could there be a clearer example of the crippling absence of connected planning?

Youngsters traumatised by the lives they fled to find sanctuary here are briefly extended the levels of support that could improve their lot.

Then that is taken away with no explanation, the school struggles with increasing numbers, and their suffering is compounded, while the entire school community starts to feel the pressure.

Flashpoints

Fears of this nature have been made by protesters at flashpoints around the country, but they are ignored or derided for their bigotry, while the actions of a small few agitators, bent on disruption, dominate. This lazy portrayal of cruel natives is not only inaccurate; it also ignores the much more pervasive problems in regional Ireland.

There are not enough GPs, or jobs, or transport links.

This has been a failure of the State since its foundation, and correcting it requires a degree of political will that hasn’t been evident in a century.

Even with a determination to invest the billions necessary, building schools, healthcare centres and houses will take years. But there is no alternative. Stronger regions will remove the need for many to leave for lives in cities where they will never be able to afford homes.

They will relieve the choking traffic conditions that thousands are compelled to spend hours in every day.

But they would also improve the lives of everyone: natives, those seeking refuge, or those making fresh starts.

The opportunities are beguiling – but they will come to nought without firm political purpose.