ROSCOMMON TO GET THREE TIMES MORE REFUGEES
Minister conf irms that 80 is just the start of process
MORE than three times the number of Syrian refugees will be relocated to the rural community of Ballaghaderreen than was initially reported, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Immigration Minister David Stanton made the admission after local independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice said he had been informed of plans to resettle up to 280
people in the Roscommon town. It has also emerged that the refugees fleeing from their war-torn homeland will be accommodated in twostorey houses at a ghost estate near the town as well as a disused 40-bedroom hotel after they are brought to Ireland from Greece.
It was initially reported that 80 Syrian refugees would be moved into the Abbeyfield Hotel on the outskirts of Ballaghaderreen.
But locals are already furious that they were not consulted about the plans.
According to local independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, he only became aware of the proposal when he received a phone call from Minister Stanton on Thursday evening.
Describing the call, the Roscommon TD said: ‘I was on the road when I got a phone call from David Stanton at about 7pm on Thursday. I took from him that 280 people would be brought to Ballaghaderreen. I was taken by surprise.
‘We would generally know if there were jobs coming or going but there wasn’t a whimper about this.
‘People I know in the health service have told me that they didn’t hear a whimper about this either.
‘These people have gone through an awful lot and I’m concerned about where are the services for these people when they need to go to hospital? Where is there an A&E? Where are the mental services?
‘Are we going to bring people to an area and not have the services for them that they need?
‘It’s no good dragging them to a place in Ireland and not having the services. There are a lot of questions and we were not consulted.’
The 280 figure is far in excess of the figure that has already caused local unrest regarding the lack of consultation over the move.
Asked directly about the figure by the MoS yesterday, Mr Stanton said: ‘The place has the capacity for 250. It will probably never be realised. They will stay a few weeks and move on. People will be coming and going. The overall capacity is 250… that is the capacity of the hotel and the houses. The houses will be ideal for families.
‘Eighty are coming into the country at the end of January. They will land in Dublin and some might go to the Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre in Dublin and some might go down to Ballaghaderreen, depending on their needs.
‘They have left their homes with their shirts on their backs, completely destitute, with no choice but to flee.’
He defended his decision not to consult with locals until a deal to accommodate the refugees had been agreed.
The Cork East TD added: ‘They will probably not be seen outside of the hotel. We have to do our best and we have obligations internationally to do our bit. I don’t know the exact details. It will be seven or eight weeks [before] they arrive in Ballaghaderreen.’
According to a Department of Justice spokesman, the Syrians will be housed at the disused hotel in Ballaghaderreen for 12 months and after that the plan is to rehouse them elsewhere. He added: ‘Their stay in the Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre is intended to be short-term, after which they will be housed somewhere in Ireland.’
The Abbeyfield Hotel was built about 10 years ago. It has been lying empty for the past four years. It was bought by a Cork development firm in 2015 for a reported €800,000. The same company also bought 50 houses in the nearby River Oaks estate for about €500,000. Renovation work on both sites started several weeks ago.
At present the Syrians are living in refugee camps in Greece and a team of gardaí is carrying out security checks on those hoping to start a new life in Ireland.
According to councillor Michael Mulligan, Ballaghaderreen is like many nearby towns: an unemployment blackspot with many families dependent on social welfare payments.
The Sinn Féin councillor insisted that the Syrians would be forced to live in an area which already has overcrowded schools, a shortage of doctors and inadequate hospital services. He said: ‘The town is just not capable of dealing with this number of refugees. We have only been given information on a needto-know basis and this creates a lot of suspicion.’
Local Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy said: ‘Both the refugees and Ballaghaderreen deserve better in terms of services, facilities and consultation.’
‘These people have gone through a lot’
WHEN the first Syrian refugees arrive over the next few weeks in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon, will there be schoolteachers available for the children? Will there be GPs on hand to treat them? Dieticians to ensure that anyone who is malnourished can eat his or her way back to full health?
The answer to all those questions might be Yes. Although one local TD suspects not. The Government has taken so long to enact its EU commitment to accept refugees, you would have to think there is a proper strategy in place. If it was formulated weeks or months ago, though, then that was the time to communicate it to locals in the town.
We have seen across Europe the panic, much of it needless, when small towns host disproportionate numbers of refugees. With that in mind, it was incumbent on everyone to explain the strategy in detail long before councillors were informed of a fait accompli hours before it was announced.
We are a welcoming people, ourselves the victims of dispossession, dislocation and famine in the past. So, yes, refugees are welcome here, but only when all the stakeholders are placed at the heart of the process. This was badly handled, and the Government must learn lessons from it.