Tag Archives: emergency accommodation

CLARE TD Cathal Crowe has made an official complaint to the Ceann Comhairle, alleging the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth failed to provide him with information about the provision of a new emergency accommodation facility in Shannon. He appeared on RTE current affairs show Drive Time last week and said that only while on the show he found out that the Department had provided a reporter with information that Deputy Crowe himself had sought, but been refused. “I was flabbergasted because there was information on the airwaves that I wasn’t aware of, and when I tried to get information via the most official route of all, a Parliamentary Question, I was told it was commercially sensitive and they couldn’t tell me.” He said he has been left completely in the dark about the details of plans to place refugees in the Shannon Free Zone. “It’s been a week since I lodged it to the office of the …

TEMPERS rose and those with different views shouted at each other at a public meeting on Saturday afternoon regarding the use of a building in the Shannon Free Zone for refugee accommodation. Around 200 people came to the meeting which was held at Shannon Town Park and which had been publicised through social media. The turnout itself was interesting; particularly given that there was only a few days notice and relatively poor weather conditions. Going by the comments made and the levels of applause at certain stages, around 80-90% were opposed or at least uneasy about the use of the large industrial building for emergency accommodation, while a minority were in favour of it happening. There was no evidence of common ground between the two sides, and on this afternoon’s evidence there is significant opposition in the town to taking in another large cohort of refugees, with claims that Shannon does not have the amenities, the health services or school …

COUNTY Councillors at this week’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District slammed plans to house refugees in an industrial building at the Shannon Free Zone and also criticised the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) for the secrecy it has maintained around the plans. The meeting also heard warnings that a lack of information can give an opportunity for misinformation to flourish, and give the far right an opening to exploit. Following the criticism at Tuesday’s Shannon Municipal District meeting DCEDIY told the Clare Champion it has no option but to take advantage of any type of accommodation available, while it said there would be communication with local representatives before the facility does open. At Tuesday’s meeting Sinn Féin’s Donna McGettigan said the Department’s decision not to make information available was leading to “all sorts of innuendo”. She also said councillors have been called liars when they have said they don’t know what the plans for accommodation in …

PLANS to house refugees in an industrial building in Shannon have been criticised by local elected representatives. Last week the Office of Public Works (OPW) said it had made Unit 153 at Shannon Business Park (a large building close to where Molex had been located) available to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that it is being adapted for emergency accommodation. In a statement to the Clare Champion the Department acknowledged it is working with the OPW “to develop proposals/design to use a state-owned property in Shannon Free Zone to accommodate International Protection Applicants.” However, it contradicted the OPW’s claim that it is currently being adapted for the use of refugees, saying that engagement between the two bodies is ongoing and contracts have yet to be agreed or signed. Unit 153 is a large building that is not currently in use. Speaking to The Champion on Tuesday, Clare TD Cathal Crowe said he doesn’t believe that …

A NEW centre for housing refugees is to be opened in Shannon, despite local elected representatives and residents having been left uninformed about the matter. The OPW confirmed to the Clare Champion that it had made Unit 153 in Shannon Business Park available to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that it is currently being adapted for emergency accommodation. Prior to Christmas, in a briefing document, Maurice Buckley, chairman of the Office of Public Works said that the OPW “has made a large property in Shannon available to the DCEDIY (Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth) which is currently being adapted for emergency accommodation.” After coming upon this the Clare Champion contacted the DCEDIY, but it made no comment. The OPW was also contacted and confirmed that Unit 153 had been handed over. The Clare Champion spoke to Deputy Cathal Crowe on Wednesday afternoon and at that stage he was unaware that a building …

A homeless family, living in emergency accommodation for the past three and a half months, is begging Clare County Council to house them, as they cannot find suitable private, rental accommodation locally. Martin Mongan, his 21-year-old partner, Kathleen Delaney, and their two young children are currently living in one bedroom in a bed and breakfast in Lahinch. “It has been very, very hard. There is a lot of moving. Where we are now, we leave at about 12 noon or 1pm and we have to be gone until about 8pm or 9pm. My parents and brothers would collect us if the weather is bad but we have a double buggie and, in the fine weather, we walk down to Lahinch and wait there until we get collected,” Martin explained. “Then we wait with my parents in their house in Miltown Malbay and then, at night, we come back again. We have breakfast here and that is good and then, within …