Sinn Féin TD raised concern over site for refugee homes and warned of possible ‘serious divisions in our community’

A Sinn Féin TD raised concerns that a proposed site for modular homes for refugees in West Dublin was unsuitable and warned the plans “would have the potential to cause serious divisions in our community”.

Paul Donnelly made the remarks in an email to Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman in which he also suggested that “mainstream emergency accommodation” for homeless people should be provided in parallel with housing for refugees.

The correspondence was released under the Freedom of Information Act along with letters from other TDs and Senators to Mr O’Gorman on the subject of plans to bring in modular homes for people fleeing Ukraine.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has been asked to deliver hundreds of modular homes, with the first units expected to be ready early in the new year. There are currently five sites identified for rapid build homes: Cavan Town; Mahon, Co Cork; Thurles, Co Tipperary; Doorly Park, Co Sligo; and Claremorris, Co Mayo. A total of 206 units are to be delivered across these locations.

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Further sites are under consideration by Government as part of a second phase of development in early 2023. A possible site in West Dublin had been identified at the end of July, and Mr Donnelly was among local politicians to receive a briefing on it at the time.

The Department of Integration said on Friday that plans to locate modular homes on the site were dropped after an assessment of the site by the OPW indicated it was “not suitable”.

Asked if the decision had anything to do with Mr Donnelly’s concerns, the department said it is “actively engaging with elected representatives, with local authorities and with local communities in areas where sites have been identified for the rapid build housing programme”.

“The department is working hard to foster positive linkages between the local community and those who are being housed there temporarily,” it said.

Mr Donnelly wrote to Mr O’Gorman on August 22nd about the proposed site in his Dublin West constituency.He said Sinn Féin was “supportive of efforts to provide support to the people of Ukraine and will continue to do so in a positive and proactive way”.

He added: “However, I would like to express again my deep concern about this site ... and [its] total unsuitability for what is being proposed. This would have the potential to cause serious divisions in our community.”

Mr Donnelly noted that he had met local authority officials about how a site zoned as “community infrastructure” was selected and “to also look at how we can work together to quickly ... identify sites for citizens of Dublin West who are currently facing eviction”.

He added that there was “an immediate need for mainstream emergency accommodation in this postcode to be provided by the Department of Housing/DRHE [Dublin Region Homeless Executive] in parallel with any emergency accommodation for refugees”.

Mr Donnelly said there were no emergency accommodation units in Dublin West “and many families and individuals have been forced to seek temporary accommodation throughout the rest of Dublin and beyond”.

He added: “After 10 years of a housing crisis, this is just unfair and not sustainable as the housing emergency deepens.”

Separately, Cavan-Monaghan TD Niamh Smyth forwarded a letter to Mr O’Gorman from residents near a proposed location for 60 modular homes in Cavan, saying they were expressing concerns on “various points”.

The residents’ letter was redacted in the documents released by the department.

On the same day, August 2nd, Ms Smyth wrote another letter to Mr O’Gorman outlining her admiration for his department’s work in response to the refugee crisis.

She said of the “well-designed” modular homes: “I believe cognisance must be taken of the accommodation needs and requirements of the 800 Ukrainians living within the county. Some of these unfortunate people are living in isolated rural areas without access to transport, health, educational and social services.”

Ms Smyth said the department needed to “check out an issue of flooding in the area which I am told has prevented local households getting insurance on their properties”.

The OPW said it adapted the proposed scheme for Cavan Town after carrying out assessments and site investigation works and the number of units was reduced to 30 “all of which are located outside the flood risk zone”.