The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Department was in discussions with Remcoll in September ‘19 for DP centre
THE Department of Justice had “agreed in principle” to open the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers in October 2019, according to correspondence in a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) released last week. The information released to Radio Kerry shows steps to open the direct provision centre began in September 2019.
An email dated October 11, 2019, stated that, following negotiations, agreements in principle had been reached for three proposals – one of which relates to the Skellig Star Hotel.
According to the e-mail, Remcoll Ltd had offered the 56-bedroom hotel as emergency accommodation with capacity of around 160 persons, and that it would be available from November. Further correspondence shows the hotel was inspected in September 2019.
At the time, the hotel was being offered as emergency accommodation until works were carried out on the adjoining apartments, when the hotel and the apartments would be then offered as a Direct Provision Centre for 300 residents.The e-mail dated September 2019 states the hotel was then changing hands and was expected to become available in two to three weeks.
In his apology to the people of Kerry, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said the opening of the centre happened so quickly that it gave little time for consultation. He said that the centre had been identified as a suitable location under a previous expression of interest, but that in early March, when the Department realised they needed centres, they opened Cahersiveen within days.
In January of this year, the Department of Justice stated in a statement to The Kerryman they had no contract to open a centre having been asked about plans to open a centre. FOI information shows plans had been ongoing since September. The correspondence on opening the centre is between Remcoll and the Department of Justice. However, at the time the lease for the hotel was held by the Skellig Hotel Experience Ltd, which had three shareholders, including TD Michael HealyRae. It did not change hands until December.
Meanwhile, TD Norma Foley has also told the Dáil COVID committee that she has ‘verifiable’ information that the first case was in the Skellig Star Hotel was on March 24, not March 30 as outlined by the
HSE and the Department of Justice. Asylum seekers were moved to Cahersiveen came from a Dublin Hotel, where a case of COVID had been identified. In the Minister’s apology to the people of Kerry, he said that the first case of COVID-19 in the centre could not have come from the Dublin hotel case as it was outside the incubation period.
“In fact, and this I believe is a crucial point, it was well over a fortnight (the incubation period) before any of our residents in Cahersiveen began to show symptoms or were confirmed as positive for COVID - 19,” said Minister Flanagan. However, the information from the Dáil committee differs from this.
“I have verifiable evidence of a written communication from the Skellig Star to the Department of Justice and Equality on 24 March confirming a suspected case of COVID-19. The resident concerned was placed in isolation on 20 March, one day after arrival in Cahersiveen,” she told the committee.
“If the Department of Justice knew of a suspected case on 24 March, why was the HSE not aware of it until 30 March, almost a week later? This timeline confirms unequivocally that COVID-19 was transported by bus on March 18 and 19 to the Skellig Star and the community of Cahersiveen,” she said.
“I say this without apportioning any blame whatsoever to the residents of the Skellig Star. Rather, I apportion absolute culpability to the HSE and the Department of Justice for not conducting the necessary testing prior to those people leaving Dublin. To my mind, at the very least this was a grave oversight and at worst an unequivocal dereliction of duty of care to all concerned.” The Department of Justice said in response to Deputy Foley to provide them with the information.
“If the Deputy has verifiable evidence of a report to the Department on 24 March, we would like to see it because we have not been able to establish any evidence of knowledge in the Department prior to 30 March when a centre manager reported to our daily helpline that he had one case of a person self-isolating,” said Secretary General Civil, Justice and Equality from the Department of Justice.
A GoFundMe Page has also been set up in the community to help raise funds for a legal battle to have the centre closed and has raised almost €3,000.
The Go Fund Me page ‘Iveragh Fight for Justice’ is seeking to raise funds for a legal case to close the centre.