A group of 15 asylum-seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo returned to Donegal town from Dublin yesterday, having left it earlier in the week after less than an hour there. The group said the full-board accommodation provided was too small.
They had been moved from a Dublin hostel to the Cliff View Hostel on Tuesday. The Directorate for Asylum Support Services (DASS) has insisted that they must accept the full-board accommodation offer in Donegal or find their own accommodation.
The DASS was set up in the Department of Justice with responsibility for finding accommodation for all asylum-seekers. Mr Norbert Mbaya, who described himself as a politician from the DRCongo, gave a brief interview in French to waiting reporters in Donegal. He said he and his wife "and our three children have to share one room. Other families are being crowded into similar conditions. We had no choice but to come back to Donegal. It does not matter where we go. We just want suitable accommodation."
"At the end of the day there is no emergency accommodation in Dublin for asylum-seekers and these people cannot be allowed to dictate where they want to live," a Justice spokesman said. "Another 40 asylum-seekers have been living in the Cliff View Hostel for the past three weeks without complaint." The refugee directorate had waited until the number of Congolese had grown to 15 before moving them to preserve a community/ethnic spirit.
Mr Peter Kennedy, chairman of Donegal County Council, said the "latest asylum-seekers didn't give Donegal town a chance on Tuesday afternoon before turning on their heels and leaving again. They claimed to be unhappy with the accommodation. I don't know what sort of accommodation they are used to in their own country but the Cliff View has state-of-the-art facilities," he said.
"At a public meeting in the town on Wednesday night asylum-seekers who have been living in the town for the past three weeks stood up and thanked the townspeople for the way they had been treated and made feel welcome since they arrived in the county," he added.
Local community and sporting groups joined North Western Health Board officials and local Donegal county councillors at the public meeting.
"All sections of the community have offered their assistance to the asylum-seekers already staying in the town," Mr Kennedy said.