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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 21 Mar 2002

Vol. 550 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Asylum Seekers' Accommodation.

I preface my remarks by saying that Kilkenny city has played its part in housing asylum seekers and refugees. This issue has nothing to do with racism or the housing of refugees. Indeed, there have been 100 asylum seekers or refugees in Kilkenny for some time and the broader community of Kilkenny city has supported their accommodation as well as individual cases. Furthermore, the community has placed a request before the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to have the appropriate State agencies provide the type of support necessary at the centre in the Ormonde Hostel. Father Willie Purcell and others in Amnesty International have supported this plea because to date the State has not given the necessary appropriate support to the people in Kilkenny. Some 90 to 100 refugees are housed in the Ormonde Hostel so it is clear Kilkenny city is playing its part.

This issue concerns the local community. A new site has been obtained on a four year, nine month lease and no consultation has taken place. By sleight of hand, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has engaged with a local landowner and has established a lease on a site. The local community simply wants to be consulted. It wants to understand what is happening and to be part of what is taking place in Kilkenny.

I have just come from the picket lines in Kilkenny city where the local community feels abandoned by the democratic process. While we discussed openness and transparency at county council meetings, officials from the Department contacted Kilkenny County Council on 7 March and asked for information in connection with a fire safety certificate for the site. They asked that official not to divulge any of that information. Public representatives were not informed until 8 March so the democratic process was totally bypassed. Neither members of the county council nor Members of this House were informed. To this day, I have not yet been officially informed of the interest the Department has in this site or the plans it has for it. I have not been given the right to know by the Government or by the Department and I demand that right for myself and for the local community.

I ask the Minister to ensure that this order is withdrawn until proper meaningful consultation has taken place with the local community, a community which is constructive and responsible and which has played its part. All it asks is that the democratic process and the mechanisms around it acknowledge that it too has rights. It is a deeply frustrated community at this time. The chairman, Mike O'Brien, is doing his best to ensure that the consultation process is put in place and that people are given the opportunity to have an input, but they are outraged and feel cheated by the system. I have been in touch with the officials yesterday and today and I ask that the contractor, who seems to be assembling the equipment on a site close by, is informed that all activities are suspended.

There is misinformation in relation to this issue. No information is being given to county council officials or to local public representatives and, given the background of community in Kilkenny city and the constructive, meaningful and caring role it has played to date in its response to human beings in difficulty, public representatives and the Government have a responsibility to ensure that this consultation process is entered into, that no construction is carried out on that site and that no entry is given to the site. I understand through the Office of Public Works that the contract is not yet signed, yet the contractor is in Kilkenny.

Much greater clarification is required in this case. I ask that clarification be provided and that, over a period of time, the consultation process is entered into, that the rights of the local community are understood and that we have a meaningful engagement so we can achieve a constructive end to what has started out as a very sad situation. People turn to their public representatives in a case like this and in this instance we have not been able to help. If I was asked to comment on the help we have received to date from various officials, I would say it has been less than helpful. On behalf of my local community, I demand that we answer the constructive call that has been made to us and that we insist, through this Chamber, on the rights of the local community and fulfil the request for consultation.

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, I point out that the reception and integration agency is responsible, inter alia, for meeting the accommodation needs of asylum seekers under the system of dispersal and direct provision which was introduced in April 2000. The Reception and Integration Agency is currently providing full board accommodation for close on 5,000 asylum seekers in 81 centres which are situated in 24 of the 26 counties. Some 89 asylum seekers are currently accommodated in one centre in Kilkenny on a full board basis under the system of direct provision.

In accordance with Government policy on the dispersal and the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers the Office of Public Works, Office of Public Works, arising from a public advertisement, recently secured a four year, nine month lease, effective from the completion of construction, for a site at Leggettsrath, Dublin Road, Kilkenny, on behalf of the Reception and Integration Agency. The site will be used for the purpose of developing a centre for the provision of accommodation and certain ancillary services for up to 250 asylum seekers, including children.

An order under section 181(2)(a) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, was subsequently signed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I understand from the Reception and Integration Agency that arrangements are being made to put in place the contract for the construction of the facility. I am advised that the Reception and Integration Agency is making arrangements to meet representatives of local residents prior to the commencement of the site works and no development work will take place until these discussions have been completed.

The facility in question will be a low-rise accommodation centre, modelled on similar facilities used extensively throughout Europe. It will be similar to other system built centres at Knockalisheen, County Clare, Cork and Dublin and it is anticipated that the centre could come on stream at the end of this year or early next year. Following its completion, placements to the centre will be made on a phased basis over a number of months.

The centre will cater, in the main, for families and will incorporate dining, communal, recreational, health and welfare facilities and appropriate landscaping works. In accordance with normal practice, representatives of the Reception and Integration Agency have met representatives of Kilkenny County Council, the South-Eastern Health Board and local residents and will liaise with support service providers, including the South-Eastern Health Board, schools and voluntary groups to facilitate the development of support structures for asylum seekers to be accommodated at the centre. The current rate of new applications for refugee status is approximately 800 per month, and the provision of accommodation and ancillary health and welfare facilities for them continues to be a major challenge for the State. The development of an accommodation centre at Kilkenny is in line with Government policy to meet this challenge and is part of the overall strategy for the provision of up to 4,000 places in system-built accommodation throughout the State, over time.

On a point of order—

Acting Chairman:

I do not think we have any provision for a point of order now.

May I ask that the infor mation contained in the last paragraph be clarified at a later date because it is not correct?

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