PROTEST CALLS FOR CLOSURE OF CENTRE
A GROUP of legal professionals, academics and human-rights advocates have called on Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to close the Skellig Star Hotel direct provision centre in Cahersiveen, where there has been a COVID-19 outbreak.
It followed protests in the town which also called for the closure of the centre. Irish Refugee Council CEO Nick Henderson is one of 12 signatories on the letter, seen by The Kerryman, which drew attention to “Reports that people are not able to leave the hotel, or are given the strong impression that they can not leave; People, including children, spending all day in hotel rooms; [and] No deep clean of the hotel following 22 residents testing positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago or following positive tests this week.”
Also included among the concerns was “Risk of a contagion ‘vicious circle’”. The Kerryman has sought a response to the letter from the Department of Justice.
The signatories also hit out at a notification – purporting to be from the HSE Department of Public Health – saying the most recent positive test at the centre was on May 6 and that “the recommended period of self-isolation has to be extended” until May 20.
“This is clear that some residents are not following the Public Health recommendations,” the notification stated. The HSE has confirmed that it issued the notification, which does not appear on headed paper.
“Where there are outbreaks in residential facilities which are not under our control (including direct provision centres), the local Department of Public Health gives clear advice to both the management and the residents of the centres to support them in responding appropriately,” the HSE told The Kerryman. “The advice given to any resident who is confirmed to have Covid-19, or who is a close contact of a confirmed case is consistent, and is the same as the advice given to any member of the public.”
The Skellig Star Hotel opened as a direct provision centre in mid-March, with 98 asylum seekers moved out of emergency accommodation centres to the South Kerry town, in response to the pandemic. Some weeks later the first four cases of Covid-19 were confirmed, and there are now believed to be up to 25 confirmed cases, including a seven-year-old child. It is believed that most of those have been moved to self-isolation units outside Kerry.
For weeks, concerns have been raised by the community and centre residents over what they claim are unsuitable conditions, and the lack of space to social distance and follow protocols given the outbreak.
On Monday, an online meeting took place between the county’s five TDs and a director of the group operating the centre on behalf of the Department, Paul Collins, who fielded concerns raised by TDs during the two-hour-35-minute meeting.
Last Thursday, up to 30 people marched in the town calling for the centre to be closed. They were supported by asylum seekers living at the centre, some of whom hung banners from windows calling for to be moved them out of the facility.
Currently there is understood to be around 73 residents living in the 56-bedroom hotel.
“We are working with the residents to have this facility closed down. We are fighting for what is right and that is have the asylum seekers moved to a safer location... We are here again in this country using vulnerable people for profit,” said spokesperson Lisa O’Shea.
The Department of Justice said, together with the HSE, they have put in place a range of measures in all of the Department’s Accommodation Centres to address cases of COVID-19 should they arise. They added that, in all matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health advice from the HSE and the National Public Health Emergency Team is followed.
It said measures are in place to prevent the spread of the virus, including staggered mealtimes and laundry use, and have no plans to close the centre.
Senior Lecturer in Social
Policy at Waterford Institute of Technology, Cahersiveen native Maire O’Reilly, has been critical of the Department’s response and believes there is no oversight in place to see what, if any, of the measures by the Department are being implemented.
The Cahersiveen Community and Business Alliance is calling for the entire community to be tested given the number of cases at the centre. Chairperson Jack Fitzpatrick said the HSE must look after the entire community following the outbreak.
The HSE said National Public Health Emergency Team has outlined the criteria for testing. If anyone feels that they meet these criteria, they should contact their GP for advice.