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 in Shannon was to be used for accommodating refugees.
He said that after receiving queries from Shannon residents he had written to Minister Roderic O’Gorman to see if anything was planned, but had received no reply.
He said that if there were plans for housing refugees in the town, account needs to be taken of the capacity of local services.
“My view is that Shannon, indeed all of Clare, is very open and welcoming to refugees be they from the Ukrainian war or from other countries dealing with conflict and strife.
“I think that our intake of refugees needs to be some way benchmarked against capacity to care for them. If true, I’d like to see additional details on how this warehouse unit can be properly configured.
“I’d also be anxious to know what consultation Minister O’Gorman and his officials have had with local schools and the Shannon Health Centre and all the other stakeholders. To provide accommodation without some dialogue with other stakeholders is a blind and reckless approach to this.”
On Wednesday afternoon Councillor Gerry Flynn was also unaware of the move, while he also said that if there are more arrivals the capacity of the town to cater for them must be considered.
“Shannon is one of the centres that’s housing a large amount of Ukrainians, we’ve also had the refugees from Syria here. The big issue is that it could impinge on the services for local people. You’ll have issues with schools, issues with health services, issues with transport.”
He said that central government ignores local representatives on such matters.
“I’ve heard the rumour machine, but that’s all I’ve heard. We haven’t been consulted, haven’t been informed, and that’s generally the way it is. We really don’t feature.”
Councillor Flynn said that some vision is required to make sure services are adequate. “It’s alright putting all these people into particular areas, but without adequate and improved services it will impinge greatly on the local community.”
Sinn Féin’s Donna McGettigan also said she had not been informed of any plans for additional emergency accomodation, but she said it is important that any such accommodation be fit for purpose.
“I would hope that there is infrastructure in place for them, there’s no point in bringing them in and leaving them abandoned in a building, with no infrastructure around for them. That would be my opinion, that infrastructure should be there. I’ve no problem with them coming in, but I would have an issue if they were left abandonded with no infrastructure around.”
Reports in the national media on Wednesday showed that the State has struggled to deal with the large amount of refugees who have arrived in Ireland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of last year.
Since the start of the war more than 4,000 Ukrainians have come to Clare and in a statement on Wednessday said Clare County Council said it is working to help those who have arrived here.
“In relation to the Ukrainian response specifically, Clare County Council has a role to play in meeting the requirements of the emergency response and continues to work with agencies and groups through the Community Response Forum to meet local needs in terms of wraparound services. We are also working with individual property owners through the ‘Offer a Home’ initiative: www.offerahome.ie”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.