Tag Archives: Direct Provision

ALMOST exactly a year after the first protests against it, the Government has announced that will not proceed with development of accommodation for International Protection Applicants at Unit 153 in the Shannon Business Park. The decision was confirmed to Clare TD McNamara this afternoon by Joe O’Brien TD, Minister of State for Integration today. With numerous protests against the accommodation of refugees in various parts of the country, there is likely to be significant relief in Shannon that a potentially serious flashpoint has been avoided. In January of last year a public meeting about the use in the Town Park was attended by about 200 people, amid significant tension between those of opposing viewpoints. While there were some in favour of the development, a majority were not with claims that Shannon’s resources were already strained, particularly with the arrival of a large number of refugees to the town in 2022. There were also claims that housing people in an industrial …

WHILE the State won’t make the information public, the Concerned Shannon Residents Group have received details from other sources about the development of Unit 153 at the Shannon Business Park for the accomodation of International Protection Applicants. Even local TDs are struggling to get information from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, but the group have received a diagram showing that there are plans for 70 bedrooms on the ground floor of the building. It is unclear if there will be further bedrooms on other floors at the site. This week several members of Concerned Shannon Residents said they have serious concerns that very little planning has been done for the hundreds of people set to be housed in the new Direct Provision Centre. They also say the level of secrecy around the proposal is unhelpful, something that Clare TD Michael McNamara has also slammed, while he accused the Government of a contempt from the democratic process. …

CLARE TD Cathal Crowe said that there has been some disquiet in the Meelick area after a man involved in a violent incident at a direct provision centre in Kerry was granted bail, on condition that they reside at the centre in Meelick. “A few locals have been on to me about it and are not happy. This morning I contacted the Chief Superintendent’s Office at Henry Street in Limerick and asked him for clarification on this. I’ve also asked that they would have some oversight of this,” said Deputy Crowe. Deputy Crowe said that there is a need to be careful about the accommodation of people leaving troubled countries. “There was an incident, maybe four years ago, where a male, a very nice man, was fearful of his life. He was being accommodated in a room or dormitory close to other men, who his people were locked in a conflict with in his home country. “By night he was …

A CLARE-based advocate for those seeking asylum in Ireland has said he remains hopeful that plans to end Direct Provision by 2023 will succeed, despite considerable opposition from the Department of Housing. South African national Bulelani Mfaco, who lives in Knockalisheen, is a member of an expert group, led by Dr Catherine Day. In October, the panel published a report calling for a new asylum system to be put in place over the next three years. The plan recommends housing applicants in a State-owned centre for three months, then helping them to move to own-door accommodation with the support of a scheme similar to the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). While Mr Mfaco and fellow members of the advisory panel argue that the proposed system would lead to cost savings for the State and more humane living conditions for asylum seekers, there is considerable resistance from the Department of Housing. Submissions by the department said the plan has the potential to …

A CLARE-based migrants’ rights activist has given a broad welcome to a ground-breaking new report which recommends that the Direct Provision system should end by 2021. A publication compiled by an expert advisory panel working under the stewardship of Dr Catherine Day will now inform a White Paper being put together on the issue of accommodating those seeking asylum in Ireland. Bulelani Mfaco lives at the State-owned Knockalisheen direct provision centre, and is a prominent member of the Movement of Asylum Seekers of Ireland (MASI). The South African was also a member of Dr Day’s expert advisory committee. While MASI, who made a detailed submission last year to the committee, welcomed recommendations on the provision of housing, healthcare, and welfare payments to asylum seekers who do not stay in reception centres, it highlighted areas that continued to be of concern. Mr Mfaco noted that asylum seekers would continue to be open to discrimination under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). In …

NEW figures showing that Clare is among the counties with the largest number of applications for asylum have prompted concerns over the relatively high concentration of people living in Direct Provision here. With 378 applications from people living in this county, Clare ranks fourth in the latest data. Three counties – Cork, Meath and Kerry – have a greater number of applications. According to Bulelani Mfaco of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI), the number of applications reflects the relatively high number of Direct Provision centres located in Clare, as well as the level of overcrowding within them. “There is a high concentration of asylum seekers in the county between the centres at Knockalisheen, Ennis and Lisdoonvarna,” said Mr Mfaco who is lives at the Knockalisheen centre in Meelick. “That is why the figure for Clare is so high. There is also the issue of the rate of occupancy of the centres to consider. At one point, there …

CHILDREN in a family hub and two Direct Provision centres in Clare received a gift package of new books by leading Irish authors as part of an Arts Council initiative to ensure that as mny people as possible can experience Culture Night. Encouraging all parents to participate with their children, the government agency for funding and developing the arts, has partnered with Children’s Books Ireland to publish a special guide to 100 of the best Irish books for children. The Books Make Things Better reading guide will be distributed free of charge through bookshops and libraries, or can be downloaded on the Internet. Two direct provision centres in Meelick and Lisdoonvarna and Novas family hub in Ennis are among those to benefit from the initiative. “This is the first year that the Arts Council has taken on the stewardship of Culture Night, and it’s a year of extraordinary challenges, not least for artists and the entire arts sector,” said Arts Council Director Maureen …

A REPORT issued by the Irish Refugee Council has shown that 55% of respondents in the Direct Provision system feel unsafe, while half are unable to socially distance themselves from other residents. It also said that 42% shared a bedroom with a non-family member and 46% share a bathroom with a person or persons from outside their family. Bulelani Mfaco, a member of the Movement of Asylum Seekers of Ireland, lives in the Direct Provision centre at Knockalisheen in Meelick and he said he is not surprised with the findings. “We’ve been raising these issues since March really that people feel unsafe. We are still sharing bathrooms in Knockalisheen, still having to use communal toilets. We all have to go and get our food in the canteen, we all have to use the same tea making facilities. You have to queue for meals three times a day in the canteen.” It is unsurprising to him that Direct Provision centres have …