SOME West Cork councillors have questioned the sustainability of taking in international protection applicants into the country due to pressures on accommodation and general services.
The councillors were replying to a motion put forward at a recent Cork County Council meeting by the Green Party’s Cllr Alan O’Connor who called on the Council to affirm its support for the right of international protection applicants to seek asylum in Ireland.
He proposed that this right should be exercised without harassment or intimidation or fear. He said his motion was in response to the recent sense of increased hostility towards international protection applicants and immigrants in this country, and come following the destruction of a hotel in Galway designated for asylum seekers.
Cllr O’Connor said he thought it was important to put this motion forward to show that councillors, as elected representatives of the people of Cork, affirm their support for these people coming into our communities.
North-Cork based Fianna Fáil councillor William O’Leary, who had addressed a crowd protesting outside a former B&B in Fermoy, which is being earmarked to take over 50 international protection applicants, said it was important to ask the question if the current numbers are sustainable.
‘You can do this without holding far right views and you can do this by being a moderate thinker. You can take a step back and ask is it sustainable in terms of numbers?’ he asked. ‘I think we are at a point where we may need to take a pause or reflection on the numbers to see if it is sustainable while accepting we have a legal duty to take these people in.’
West Cork Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) agreed about the issue of sustainability and pointed out that Ireland has taken in 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. ‘We’ve done our bit, we don’t have the services in our towns and villages, people cannot get to see their locals doctors and people’s health is suffering,’ said Cllr Collins.
‘Hotels and B&Bs are closed and it’s having an economic effect in these towns and villages, and bedrooms aren’t there which is also affecting tourism.’
Skibbereen’s Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) said he fully supported the motion, but then he added that the government is ‘forgetting’ that all those staying in hotels, who will never go back to their own country again, will eventually be put on the housing list once they their supports with accommodation stop.
‘Then we will have a housing list! It’s going to happen sooner or later. Can we keep it going?’ he asked.
Cllr Bernard Moynihan (FF) said he is very concerned hearing of people getting off airplanes with no paperwork and said we can’t have our system ‘blackguarded.’
‘All of this has to be policed and we can’t have our system taken advantage of,’ said Cllr Moynihan.
