Helen McEntee denies Government ‘backed down’ on asylum seeker housing after protests

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has denied that the Government “backed down” in the face of protests in Ballinrobe and Carlow with regard to accommodation for male asylum seekers.

Providing accommodation for women and families was the “first priority”, she said, with the result that male international protection applicants were sometimes left without a place, she told Newstalk Breakfast.

A tension-filled protest took place against the housing of international protection applicants at a former Capuchin friary in Carlow town on Wednesday night.

[ Opposition to single men seeking asylum is increasingly a fact of political life in Ireland ]

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Integration had planned to accommodate 50 men at the premises on Dublin St from this Friday.

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However, it abruptly dropped the plans, deciding to accommodate several families who are expected to start arriving on Friday and over the weekend. The change follows a similar decision to house families in accommodation in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, where street protests were also seen.

“We are doing everything we can to respond to a very challenging situation. We want to provide a roof over everyone’s head,” Ms McEntee said when asked about developments.

The Minister said her department was trying to speed up the application process. Over 1,000 cases were being processed every month, and speeding up that process was part of a suite of measures that the Government would be undertaking to fulfil its obligations. Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman will bring a review before Cabinet in the coming weeks which will provide details of a national response such as reception centres.

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris told reporters in Dublin separately that the new strategy will see the Government move on from wholesale reliance on the private market.

“The government’s policy is not that forevermore we have to take any vacant building in a main street and try and put it to use. That is not government policy, that is a response to an emergency humanitarian crisis,” he said.

“No one in government believes that’s optimal but it is what you do in an emergency and it is what you do in a humanitarian crisis.”

Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin’s spokesman for foreign affairs, told reporters that the Government had seriously antagonised local communities by its approach.

“The so-called engagement involves informing elected representatives after contracts have been signed with private operators, who in many instances are making substantial amounts of money on the back of what is a humanitarian crisis,”

Asked if it was not the reality at the moment that protests were inevitable even if a full consultation process was conducted, Mr Carthy said: “To be clear, there are some very nasty actors out there that are trying to antagonise local communities ,that are trying to score very nasty political points on the back of people coming to Ireland in search of refuge.

“What I am saying is the Government is making their job easy by the way in which they are managing this process by refusing to engage with any stakeholders before contracts are signed with private operators.”

Sources explained that up to seven families will be accommodated in some of the 15 rooms on site in Carlow, with four beds per room in the protected structure built in 1740. There will be a minimum of two members of staff present on site at all times, with a manager, duty manager and security expected. There is also CCTV in place.

Department of Integration officials informed public representatives on Tuesday that 50 people would be arriving into the town.

It had been mooted that all of the new residents would be men. The Department of Integration confirmed this had been considered.

The building was bought privately when the Capuchin order placed it on the open market in 2022.

Despite the protest beginning without incident, tensions heightened at times as various bystanders voiced their opinions, and traffic was halted on several occasions.

A spokesperson for the protest group, Carlow Says No, addressed the crowd. “We are all here tonight because no one was told about what’s going on. There are apparently unvetted migrant males coming into the Capuchins and St Brigids. Nobody was told who they are or what they are. This is a peaceful protest; we need to know and we have a right to know who’s coming into this town.

“Please nobody call us racist or far-right – we’re not racist and not far-right, we’re concerned mothers and fathers.”

Gardaí monitored the situation throughout yesterday and last night.

In a statement last night, a Department of Integration spokesperson said it will be providing accommodation for families seeking international protection at the Capuchin building in coming days.

The spokesperson added: “Although it had initially been expected that the property would be used to house men, following a departmental meeting on (Tuesday) night regarding the increasing number of families, and despite the ongoing acute shortage of accommodation for single males, it has been decided that the requirement to prioritise families must take precedence.”

“As the Capuchin Centre is available for immediate use, it will be used to address the needs of families. This is one of a number of premises that will change use as a result of this shortage.”

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