Tag Archives: Central Hostel

NO health and safety issues were identified during an unannounced visit by a senior official from the Department of Justice and Equality to the Direct Provision centre in Miltown Malbay last week, it has been revealed. “I am advised that there was no evidence of any rodent activity or water leaking on the day my official visited,” Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan stated in briefing note seen by The Clare Champion. Mr Flanagan commissioned the report following concerns raised in correspondence and Parliamentary Questions relating to the emergency accommodation premises for international protection applicants at the Central Hostel in Miltown Malbay. Hostel owner Pat Kelly did not wish to make any comment but said to contact the Department of Justice on the issue. Last Thursday (June 4), officials from the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) held a clinic via video call with residents of the centre, which was attended by 12 of the 19 residents. The clinic was …

A YOUNG Nigerian asylum seeker, based in West Clare, has challenged negative media portrayal of relations between rural communities and those seeking international protection in Ireland. Innocent Iroaganachi is one of approximately 31 men being provided with emergency accommodation in Miltown Malbay and says his experience there has been “wonderful”, thanks to the welcome afforded by the local community. Innocent told The Clare Champion that he decided to seek asylum here after he challenged homophobic attitudes of the government and some community leaders. His decision to speak out is something he believes lead to him being sacked from his job as a Dean of Students at a leading secondary school in Abia in the South East of Nigeria. He was already in Ireland pursuing an internship in the media when he learned that his employment had been terminated. “There was a situation in at the school and I responded by using common sense and judgement,” he explains. “But the situation was …