Senator vows to oppose 47 new homes for refugees
FIANNA Fail senator Eugene Murphy has vowed to oppose the building of modular homes for refugees in a small town in his constituency.
On Wednesday night, he attended a meeting in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon, saying ‘we can’t take any more’.
The meeting was called over plans to build 47 modular homes for around 200 Ukrainian refugees.
Ballaghaderreen, which has a population of less than 2,000, welcomed several hundred Syrian refugees in 2017.
Mr Murphy told the meeting: ‘It is absolutely, 100% right on everybody’s mind to say “no, we cannot take any more”.
‘If you’re going to increase the population significantly in any town, surely you need a full time Garda station. The first thing that must come is a 24/7 Garda station. There must be back-up for the doctors and the schools. The money has to be pumped in,’ he said.
‘You cannot take any more people. I’m not going to allow this to happen. I’m going to tell you that it shouldn’t happen and I will stand with you on it.’
Mr Murphy told those at the meeting, which was also attended by Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane: ‘You should not feel any way guilty about saying it’.
He added: ‘I am going to say straight up to you now: it cannot be allowed to continue the way it is now around this town.
‘And I’ve been straight, plain, honest and upfront with you. I can’t be more honest… It’s taken more than its fair share and you’re not being one bit wrong and you’re not being one bit racist in saying we’ve had enough.’
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail last night, Mr Murphy said he had written to Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman saying he opposed the plan and noted that he had ‘always been helpful’ on immigration previously.
Mr Murphy said the town has not been given any extra resources since it began taking in large numbers of refugees.
Former Fine Gael councillor Michael Scally told the meeting the town has become a ‘dumping ground’ for the Government. He said: ‘This has been a welcoming town. We welcomed with the whole of our heart the Syrians in 2017, but we got nothing. We were promised everything and we got nothing in return.
‘We have been walked on for the last seven years. I hate using the word dumping ground but we are a dumping ground. This is the last straw, the 47 houses out there.’
Mr Scally said he was ‘totally opposed’ to the modular homes.
He added: ‘Since we opened up in 2017 we have got no return at all…
‘We have got no benefit in this town at all, despite the fact that we have 600 to 700 non-Irish people living in the town.
‘They are welcome to the town but we have got nothing in return. Nobody speaks on our behalf,’ Mr Scally said.
‘The TDs we have in this county are not Government TDs so what more can you expect but more and more dumped on top of us, so enough is enough,’ he added.
A spokesman for Mr O’Gorman said a submission was made to the department as part of an Expression of Interest process. He added: ‘It is being examined and no decision has been made.
‘We cannot take any more’