Answer to west labour shortage sits idly by

Picture this: a group of professionals, including doctors, a chef, accountants, mechanics, builders, a marketing executive, all sitting out in Connemara and dying to get back to work. Unable to appreciate the beauty of the wild, wet landscape, or the warmth of local hospitality, because they didn't come here for a leisurely break.

In a county like Galway, which has a severe labour shortage in certain sectors, one would have thought that State agencies and employers would be queuing at the door . . .

But no. Udaras na Gaeltachta might be wondering how it can make its part of the west more attractive to qualified young people, and Cert and the Irish Hotels Federation might be wondering how they can lure staff into seasonal jobs in tourism, and Government ministers might be setting up task forces to find out why young people aren't so attracted to farming. It might have taken the Western Health Board almost two years to find a general practitioner for the Roundstone area (where property prices are one of the main deterrents), and regional development agencies might still be complaining about the "brain drain" of graduates to Dublin. Yet over 30 skilled foreign nationals who would probably live in a matchbox if they thought someone would employ them, must make the long trek to Dublin for their asylum interviews and legal advice, if they know how to get it, and then endure an uncertain wait.

For the group, which hails from Iraq, the Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, Romania, Moldavia and beyond, the emergency shelter in Clifden, Connemara, is a very comfortable safe haven.

The Dun Gibbons Inn on the Westport Road is a new, purpose-built centre designed for use by walkers, cyclists, botanists, geologists, archaeologists and anyone who appreciates the outdoors. The proprietors, Michael Gibbons and Patricia Dunford, couldn't be more empathic hosts. Sensitive to the possibility that some of their guests may have experienced considerable trauma before arriving in Ireland, the couple are also well travelled and have a healthy respect for cultural diversity.

The fact that the town's two church leaders hosted an official welcome for the party at Christmas is also significant. "It was crucial," says Michael Gibbons of the gesture made by Father Conan Eustace and the Rev Anthony Previte. "As a result, people have been invited into homes, one of the children is attending the local school, there are plans for a soccer team, and there have been gifts of clothes and food and toys.

"It helped with the transition," he says, as he describes how the centre ran an orientation course and organised bus trips out to Connemara in the initial stages, as rain pelted down over the west. "After all, it must have been terrifying. After the long journey from Dublin, our place looked like a military barracks to some of them. They didn't know where they were being brought."

The couple had replied to a Government advertisement late last year for emergency accommodation, and were given 24 hours' notice of the group's arrival by the Department of Justice. The inn's interior design is geared to self-catering, with communal areas for social interaction. The £1 million venture, which was built under a Business Expansion Scheme, has several interesting dimensions, such as its own recycling plant. Some 1 million worms regurgitate food and other waste products in several environmentally-friendly "bins" at the back.

The visitors have already made themselves comfortable, but Mr Gibbons acknowledges basic needs won't be sufficient. While applications are being handled - in Dublin - the asylum-seekers are given £15 a week, or £7.50 per child, along with food, shelter and medical care. The money is barely enough to make a long-distance phone call, while £7.50 would not keep a small child in nappies and baby food, and the restrictions on accommodation came as a surprise to several members of the group.

"I feel like an animal," said one man, who did not wish to be identified and who could not conceal his frustration at not being able to work.

Naturally suspicious of a journalist, several did not want to discuss the reason for their migration beyond a reference to political problems. "What attracted me here?" said one member of the group from Africa. "Well, there is the language factor. And I had heard positive things about Ireland from religious people with Irish connections teaching in our country. I understood it to be a country that had endured a great struggle. I understood that Irish people knew what it was like to endure racist treatment.

"I have received nothing but friendliness here since I arrived, but I have watched the television reports about what is happening elsewhere in this country. And to tell the truth, I am still in shock."