Almost 300 people in direct provision centres in Kerry

THERE are currently almost 300 asylum seekers – including 28 families with young children – living in Direct Provision Centres in Tralee and Killarney.

There are four state owned ‘ Direct Provision’ asylum seeker centres in Kerry all of which are operated on the State’s behalf by private, Abbeydorney based company Onsite Facilities Management.

The Kerry centres are Atlas House Tralee, which accommodates single men; Atlas House in Killarney, which houses families and single people; Johnston Marina in Tralee, which caters for families and Park Lodge in Killarney, which houses single women.

The Kerryman has combined recent figures and data provided by the Department of Justice and the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) which provide a picture of the present situation in Kerry.

According to these figures, as of the end of August 2017, there were 291 asylum seekers living in direct provision in the four Kerry centres.

These include 28 families who, between them, have 40 children aged under 12.

RIA figures for each centre show how many people were in each one at the end of August.

There were 99 men living in Atlas House Tralee which has a capacity of 110 and 40 women living in Park Lodge in Killarney which has a maximum capacity of 55.

A total of 78 men, women and children were living at Johnston Marina in Tralee which has the capacity to house 90 people.

Johnston Marina was home to 16 families and 19 children aged under 12, four of whom are attending local schools.

Atlas House in Killarney was home to 74 men, women and children including 12 families and 21 children aged under 12, of whom three are of school age.

The 291 asylum seekers – which includes four from Syria – in Kerry last month represented an increase of 46 on August 2016.

The average time they have spent in Direct Provision in Kerry is between 18 months and three years though 16 have been in Kerry for five years or more.

Many others have spent several years in other centres across Ireland before being moved to Kerry.

In November 2016 following a public tendering process Onsite Facilities Management’s contract to operate the four Kerry centres was renewed by the Department of Justice.

Under questioning from Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in the Dáil Junior Justice Minister with responsibility for Equality, Immigration, and Integration David Stanton refused to provide the details of payments that have been agreed with the operators of direct provision centres during recent contract negotiations.

The Junior Fine Gael Justice Minister told Deputy Adams that he was precluded from providing any financial details regarding the contracts for commercial reasons.