The owners of two guesthouses in Tramore, Co Waterford, which are to house a total of 90 asylum-seekers from next month, are to be given "one last chance" to withdraw from the arrangement. This follows a public meeting in the town on Tuesday night.
However, a substantial number of those present said asylum-seekers should be welcomed and there were heated exchanges on the issue. Only 150 people attended the meeting, a turnout described by the chairman, Riverstown resident Mr Paddy Butler, as "disgusting and disgraceful". It was obvious that other people did not care about the town.
Mr Butler said he frequently walked the beach in Tramore with his son. "I don't want to be walking into people saying `hey, I want money off you'. This is what's going to happen." If there were 90 asylum-seekers this year, there would be another 90 next year. "It's a chain reaction. Now is the time to stop it," he said. Another of those who organised the meeting, Mr Sandy Power, said the people coming into Ireland were not genuine refugees but were an "organised bunch". Forty people had come to Rosslare that morning "including some Romanians who did a runner while they were being processed".
Most of those coming in said they did not have documents "but they have been seen on the ships from France throwing their passports overboard", he claimed. "It's mainly a criminal element we're getting."
There was applause for several people who spoke in favour of welcoming asylum-seekers. Mr Eddie Walsh, a former Workers' Party member of Tramore Town Commissioners, said he "would ask the people of Tramore to treat these people humanely - they are people after all".
When Mr Walsh said many people present had family members who had emigrated, there was a shout of "they worked, they worked" from the back of the room. He was also heckled when he said it was good that the asylum-seekers were to be housed in prominent guesthouses and not hidden away.
"Will you be saying that when they're begging on the streets?" a woman shouted.
Mr Michael Kelly, who said he had lived in Tramore since 1970 but was born in the United States after his father emigrated from Ireland, said Tramore was "a fantastic place" but there was already a level of crime. i had been assaulted, cars had been burnt out and "most women don't feel safe walking at night in this town". Referring to asylum-seekers, he asked: "Have they more to fear from us than we have to fear from them?"
Mr Butler said the Moore brothers, who owned the guesthouses which are to house the asylum-seekers, would be given "one last chance" to change their minds before other options were considered.
