On the frontline on immigration: the tensions between local and national politics

An unorthodox proposal which landed on Tuesday during a meeting about accommodation for asylum seekers in Co Tipperary took Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman by surprise

“[It] knocked him off balance,” said a person familiar with the meeting. “He expected a shopping list for various organisations in the town.”

Fianna Fáil representatives for Tipperary – Jackie Cahill TD and Cllr Michael Smith – outlined something different altogether – a plan for a “community hotel” in Roscrea.

The town had been the centre of controversy and protests – including clashes with gardaí – since the previous weekend over plans to accommodate 160 asylum seekers in the Racket Hall hotel. There were criticisms about a lack of consultation but also about the town being left without a functioning hotel.

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The “community hotel” plan – modelled after a similar scheme in Co Monaghan – was for the State to fund the purchase of a disused hotel in Roscrea – to be run by locals, with profits reinvested in the town. It was quickly escalated through Coalition ranks.

O’Gorman briefed the three party leaders and he had sent Cahill a text by that evening to say there had been an agreement “in principle” to support the proposal.

The announcement seemed to go some way to breaking the fever that had developed in the town – although some protesters remained at Racket Hall, with some expressing scepticism.

As the State has scrambled to provide accommodation for thousands of refugees and asylum seekers, protests like Roscrea have become commonplace. Local concerns have been fanned by far-right actors, online and in person. The previous week it was in Carlow town – before that, Ballinrobe.

In an election year, migration politics is being imprinted on daily political life.

“My phone has been hopping for the last two to three weeks,” said Cllr Tom O’Neill, Fine Gael mayor of Carlow, who saw protests dissipate only when the Government said it would accommodate families, not single men, at a building in the town.

People call to his house, they ring late at night and while the majority are reasonable, a small element can be difficult, he said.

Cahill agreed: “Some people will be very polite and ring and disagree and be fine. Others would be malicious and threatening, and some wouldn’t have the gumption to put their name to their threats.”

Cahill said he was told in no uncertain terms he had to go to protest last week. He said a caller also told him: “We’ll burn Racket Hall at the first opportunity and we don’t care whether there’s people in it or not.” The TD reported the warning to An Garda Síochána, and stayed away from the protest.

[ Concerns of many Roscrea locals addressed by new community hotel plan ]

The demonstrations have forced the Government to enter deal-making mode, promising extra money for communities hosting large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers.

“I’ve been told by Cabinet Ministers: ‘Come to me with a shopping list for Roscrea,’” said Cahill.

Amid unrelenting pressure, there is an imperative for the Coalition to make it clear there is a dividend for communities – and for those politicians who hold the line.

However, the underlying dynamic isn’t changing. “Accommodation is exceptionally tight and where it’s available it will be utilised,” said a senior source during the week.

A new plan is promised, focused on larger centres. The hope is that politicians on the ground will be able to credibly argue the situation is not permanent, a plan is coming, and that improved communications will help.

Privately, however, Government sources admit: “The problem is a plan is just a plan. The biggest factor is not really under our control – the number of arrivals.”

Maintaining party discipline in the face of unrelenting pressure will be a challenge with local and European elections coming in the summer and a general election widely expected later in the year.

Peter Flynn is a Fine Gael councillor and party whip on Mayo County Council, which this week passed a motion to suspend work with the International Protection Accommodation Services. The outworkings of this are unclear, but Flynn is sharply critical of the Government’s approach being focused on the private sector.

“It’s being led by faceless opportunists,” he said, calling accommodation centres “profit centres”.

“There has been no strategy on this,” he said, adding that he was coming under pressure over the impact on the tourist trade and from people associating the issue with the housing crisis (asylum seekers are not housed in social housing or the rental sector).

Flynn has received no missive from Fine Gael headquarters about the motion. A senior party source indicated it would tolerate criticism and questions from within the party being expressed publicly – to a point. “The line is anything racist or spreading misinformation or conspiracy theories.”

Fianna Fáil initiated disciplinary proceedings against two councillors who commented on an arson attack in Co Galway last year. Asked for an update on the proceedings, it said the matter is currently being examined by the party’s rules and procedures committee and it would be inappropriate to comment further.

National politicians are sympathetic to the pressures their councillor colleagues are under. “They are very pissed off,” said one Minister, adding that councillors are “the last to find out”. This is often after officials in their local authority have been briefed, and they are left without answers to practical questions.

A plan is coming, but this Minister confided: “It will take ages to put it together. How long is it going to take to build these places? How many of the modular units that were announced are built?”

Ministers expect their local election candidates to put some water between themselves and the Government, with candidates looking for an angle to keep their seat.

“We’re six months out from an election,” said one Minister. “We’re going to see a lot of this before June 7th.”

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