Minister: Your apology means nothing to us

EXTRACT FROM OPEN LETTER FROM THE RESIDENTS OF THE SKELLIG STAR DIRECT PROVISION CENTRE AND THE PEOPLE OF CAHERSIVEEN

“MINISTER Flanagan: your letter changed nothing for any of us. We stand here today in solidarity, united together and demand, once again, that Skellig Star Provision Centre be closed down. We demand that the residents be relocated to more suitable accommodation where they can be safe during this ongoing pandemic.

“There is much about the procurement, opening and transfer of residents to the Skellig Star Direct Provision Centre that we are unhappy about. There are far too many questions still to be answered in that regard so we will address our highest priority only here – the urgent needs of the residents. This has been our focus since April 18, when it became apparent, not through direct communication from the officials who should have been liaising with the community, that there were confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in the centre. This was the moment when immediate action should have been taken.

“Today, five weeks later, with now 26 confirmed cases including a seven-year-old child, this is the action that must be taken. Immediately. There have been many such moments when the unsuitability of this premises for this purpose should have been glaringly obvious to the Department of Justice.

“When an inspection showed rooms and corridors smaller than what is required for social distancing.

When people from three different centres in Dublin were expected to share communal dining for three weeks after they first arrived here in the midst of a pandemic.

“When it was discovered that essential items such as vacuum cleaners and mop buckets were shared room to room.

“When it became clear that strangers were forced to share bedrooms – in a pandemic.

“When more than 20 traumatised people had to be moved off-site to isolation facilities due to testing positive.

“When the residents of this centre pleaded through the medium of the Fáilte Cahersiveen group to be moved because they are terrified of catching the virus. When the residents of Cahersiveen pleaded with their representatives to relocate these residents because we are all afraid of catching the virus.

“Yes Minister Flanagan – you are correct. As you said in your open letter ‘Covid-19 is a horrible disease. It is difficult to identify, and difficult to treat, while being shockingly easy to spread.’

“But you also said that ‘ now that it is here, Minister Stanton and I (…) are doing everything we can to deal with it.’ Well, that is debatable. Especially as the most essential and obvious thing is not being done. Shut this centre down and move the residents to more suitable accommodation.

“These already traumatised residents have endured the toughest of lock-downs extending from the weekend of 18-20 of April to May 20, when they were informed they could now leave the centre.

“Can you imagine Minister, spending weeks living, sleeping, eating, in a small bedroom with your wife and small child?

“Can you imagine carrying your child on your back any time you step out of that room because you are terrified of them catching the virus? Can you imagine getting the news that your child has tested positive? Minister – why will you not close this centre? You answered it in your letter last week.

‘We are in a contractual agreement for a 12 month period.’ This is a shameful position to adopt. To put the value of a contractual agreement over the value of other people’s lives.

“We in Cahersiveen are proud of our connections to Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who said ‘ God has no country.’ We join with the residents of the Skellig Star today in our common humanity.

“We are also conscious of our connection to Daniel O’Connell – The Liberator. Here, in the shadow of the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church, I remind you of his words.

“‘Nothing is political right that is morally wrong.’ This is a quote used in the 17 and 1800s in regards to the slave trade, picked up by the Liberator himself, Daniel O’Connell, and now more poignant than ever. We have a history in this country of having to face up to historic moral wrongs. Usually once the harm is done and it is too late to do the right thing – It is not too late for you Minister.

“As Minister for Justice, we the residents and the people of Cahersiveen call on you to do the right thing morally and politically and close this centre.”