Relocation of 50 asylum seekers to Enniscorthy due to Covid-19 crisis
THE imminent arrival this week of 50 female asylum seekers into a former nursing home in the Templeshannon area of Enniscorthy has caused some anger in certain parts of the local community, with residents expressing fear over lack of information being relayed to them about the women.
A meeting of Enniscorthy Municipal District Council is due to take place by phone conference at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday). One local councillor, Fine Gael’s Cathal Byrne, confirmed to this newspaper that the elected members were not notified about the asylum seekers’ imminent arrival in advance and that he only received confirmation about the matter early on Friday morning.
‘I understand that the centre will be located in the old Carrig Tur Nursing Home,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Paul Kehoe told this newspaper that he only learned about the women’s arrival on Thursday evening.
He revealed that none of the five Wexford TDs received prior notification about the matter.
‘I want to state clearly that I am totally dissatisfied with the lack of consultation with the local community, the councillors and the five TDs,’ he said.
‘I have sought clarity from Ministers Charlie Flanagan and David Stanton as to the next steps and I await their response,’ he added.
‘We do need to be conscious too that there are situations across the country where certain facilities have gone beyond their capacity but community consultation is key,’ he added.
‘I understand it will be 50, single women who will be arriving this week and they will be coming from other centres around the country.’
Minister Kehoe said people also contacted him expressing a desire to help the women integrate when they are here.
‘There are people opposed to this and there are also people supportive of these women,’ he said.
His comments were echoed by Cllr Byrne, who expressed disappointment at the lack of communication over the matter with local residents and support organisations.
Local residents also expressed their anger over the handling of the situation, with one resident, Mary Corrigan, telling this newspaper that ‘people are angry’.
‘There are a lot of elderly people living in the area and there are also schools up here and people are just worried,’ she said. ‘Older people are worried about issues like the coronarvirus and we have no information about these people and some are afraid it could turn into a pandemic in our town.’
Ms Corrigan also said that the lack of communication on the matter was the cause of a lot of anger.
‘It was a sneaky thing to do in the middle of a crisis.’
‘We are not going to take this lying down.’
It’s understood the relocation of the women to Enniscorthy is a temporary measure to alleviate accommodation pressure in other centres throughout the country during the current crisis.
Meanwhile, Lucky Khanbule, from MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland), asked that people to be patient and not to forget ‘these are just human beings’.
‘I would ask people to display the reputation Ireland has for being an open and welcoming place,’ he said.
Attempts to get a comment from the Department of Justice on the issue were unsuccessful.