59 asylum seekers on New Year’s Eve

January 2000

The Wexford Community Welfare Officer, Barbara Ryan, spent her Millennium Eve taking care of 59 asylum seekers from various countries who arrived on the Normandy ferry that afternoon.

Their arrival co-incided with the countdown to champagne-filled New Year’s Eve celebrations all over Wexford, but basic food and shelter were the priorities for the refugees from Romania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Togo, and Nigeria.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society came up with the offer of Carne Holiday Centre and 43 of the new arrivals were transported there, while the remaining 16 went to Slaney Manor guest house in Barntown as an emergency measure.

Once again, local shops helped out by making grocery deliveries. One problem was that bread supplies had run out in the pre-millennium shopping bonanza, but Piercestown shop owner, Sinead O’Mahoney, saved the day by baking a big batch of Cuisine de France rolls.

Killinick Service Station also rallied round, and on New Year’s night, Ciarán Hearne of The Lobster Pot cooked and delivered hot dinners to the asylum seekers, most of whom were young, single males.

Their arrival on New Year’s Eve came hot on the heels of the arrival of 22 others on the same ferry on December 23, and 24 on December 28. It is expected they will all be moved on to private rented accommodation in Wexford and other parts of the country in the coming weeks, and that their applications for asylum will soon be processed. In the meantime, they are automatically entitled to statutory social welfare payments.

Speaking on RTE Radio on Monday morning, Brendan Howlin, the Labour Party spokesman on Justice, said there is now a ‘much more balanced’ view in Wexford regarding asylum seekers than there had been previously.