The Co-ordinator of the Clare Immigrant Support Centre believes it’s a “sad reflection on our county” that people are living in tented accommodation during the current cold snap.
88 international protection applicants, who arrived into the country during or soon after Christmas, are continuing to be accommodated at such accommodation on the site of the Knockalisheen Direct Provision Centre, near Meelick.
Last December, the Department of Children and Integration contacted the Ukrainian Services Development team at Clare County Council, asking for assistance in meeting a short-term accommodation need for those living in tented accommodation at Knockalisheen.
The local authorities both here and in Limerick identified alternative emergency accommodation and Clare County Council, assisted by Mid West Simon and Clare Civil Defence, arranged new accommodation in an emergency rest centre here for 28 men.
The Council says, however, that it hasn’t been contacted by the Department in relation to the tented accommodation since and that its rest centre continues to accommodate those transferred during the December cold spell.
The Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, Eugene Quinn recently visited Knockalisheen and he’s calling for an end to the use of this type of accommodation for those seeking international protection here.
The Co-ordinator of the Clare Immigrant Supprt Centre is calling for local authorities to take a leading role in accommodating people, saying it’s a “sad reflection” on our county that people are being housed in tented accommodation here.
Orla Ní Éilí says it’s also “demoralising” to think that the general accommodation issue affecting the country at the moment hasn’t yet improved.
Listen back to the full interview here:
