Letters

Tents and Government asylum policy

Out of sight does not necessarily mean out of mind for voters

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott

The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sat May 11 2024 - 00:14

Sir, – How many more beautiful Dublin streets or canal walkways will be fenced off before the lack of accommodation for asylum seekers is properly addressed? – Yours, etc,

RITA O’BRIEN,

Lucan,

Co Dublin.

READ MORE

Sir, – As a resident of Rosslare Harbour, I’m observing with interest the events unfolding in Dublin 2.

Last week, the tents occupied by international protection applicants outside the International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) office in Mount Street were taken away. Their occupants were moved to alternative accommodation in south Dublin.

This week, 160 tents erected on the banks of the Grand Canal 350 metres from Mount Street were moved in what was described as a multiagency operation.

Personnel from Dublin City Council, Waterways Ireland, An Garda Síochána, and other bodies completed the move in little more than an hour.

And, as in Mount Street, steel barricades were erected to prevent further “shanty towns” developing, as the Taoiseach termed it.

The canal tent occupants have been moved to locations in Crooksling in Co Wicklow, the former mental hospital site in Dundrum and unspecified locations in Co Wicklow.

It is a step forward in that those seeking asylum here will now have sanitary and medical facilities available.

But the uncomfortable question yet again arises. Are the even Dublin post codes sharing a fair and equitable part in sheltering those fleeing from invasion and persecution?

I live happily adjacent to an Ipas facility here in Rosslare Harbour Village. We also have another former hotel dedicated to Ipas use. And a hotel dedicated to sheltering citizens from Ukraine.

Overall, we have over 300 people in such circumstances living among us.

This compares with the total Ipas figure of 274 in the entire Dún Laoghaire Rathdown administrative area.

There is currently a peaceful protest in Rosslare Harbour because a facility being constructed as a nursing home was earmarked to house another 160 Ipas applicants.

Personally, I do not support this protest. But given that the buildings in Dublin 4 and 2 which formerly were Jury’s Hotel and Baggot Street Hospital still remain empty, what conclusions can be drawn?

Can it really be the case that in 2024, the old political maxims still apply? That there is still an elite with power and influence who consider themselves apart and are supported in this by the decision-makers?

It looks very like it to me. – Yours, etc,

LARRY DUNNE,

Rosslare Harbour,

Co Wexford.

Sir, – When the Government moved the tent dwellers from their encampment along the Grand Canal, it appears that not only did they remove the tents but according to media, they also destroyed them.

I can think of no other situation in which the State both removed and destroyed the homes of residents. Even well-known drug dealers and crime lords are not treated this aggressively.

Do these migrants have no rights at all? – Yours, etc,

FINBAR KEARNS,

Piercestown,

Co Wexford.

Sir, – First hospital trolleys and now refugee tents.

Another exciting era in the numbers game.

I wonder how long the latest game will last? – Yours, etc,

PAT O’REILLY,

Clonakilty,

Co Cork.

Sir, – Clearly, the Government’s approach is untentable. – Yours, etc,

ULTAN Ó BROIN,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.

Sir, –Another day and another sad story of vulnerable and desperate people being moved on. Whatever the Taoiseach says, at the moment the official Government policy has a touch of “whack-a-mole” about it. As long as he knows that out of sight does not necessarily mean out of mind for voters in this instance. – Yours, etc,

STEPHEN O’HARA,

Carrowmore,

Sligo.

Sir, – It’s great to see the Taoiseach getting directly involved in the day-to-day handling of the migrant accommodation crisis but, really, that’s not his job. It makes me wonder what’s the point of the Government’s annual National Risk Assessment, if it is not to identify emerging problems, and counter them with clever planning. And there are so many other examples of poor planning and late action, like the Minister for Health thinking only now that it’s time to review emergency hospital capacity in the midwest. Short-termism and silo-thinking seem to be baked into our political system. – Yours, etc,

PATRICK KINSELLA,

Dublin 6.

LATEST STORIES