The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's controversial dispersal policy for asylum seekers has run into trouble in Galway. Refugee support workers have criticised the Department's decision to relocate unmarried asylum-seekers to a hostel in Eyre Square.
Only recently, the square was described as a virtual "no-go area" after dark by the head of casualty at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), Dr Tony Martin, who said that a substantial increase in latenight assaults in the city was not being reflected in official figures.
Nine single African men who fear for their safety initially resisted the order from the Department of Justice last month to move to the Great Western Hostel on Frenchmen's Lane.
The nine were among a group of 12 single asylum-seekers who had shared bed-and-breakfast accommodation on Bishop O'Donnell Road off Taylor's Hill with married asylum-seekers.
The group is mainly Nigerian and Algerian, and has been in Galway for between three and five months. None of them wished to be identified or photographed when this reporter visited them. "We really like the Galway people, and we have no problem if the Department wishes to move us somewhere else as we are so glad to have somewhere to stay," one member of the group, from Nigeria, said. "But Eyre Square is not somewhere that even white people like being at night."
Several of them have already had bad experiences in the city centre, but said they understood that "Irish people are just not used to black people yet".
When they asked why they were being relocated, they were told that the Bishop O'Donnell premises was more suitable for married couples.
Their married colleagues appealed to the Department to reconsider the decision but to no avail.
A spokesman for the Department told The Irish Times that the decision was taken on the basis that Bishop O'Donnell road was "ideal for family units". The Office of Public Works (OPW) was instrumental in leasing and purchasing property, the Department said, and had earmarked the Eyre Square hostel to house up to 200 people.
Mr Rab Fulton, a voluntary support worker and editor of Muc Mhor Dhubh, a newsletter celebrating Galway's global diversity, is critical of the Department's decision.
"The accommodation on Bishop O'Donnell road is particularly suited in the sense that it allows asylum-seekers some freedom to cook their own food, and there was already a very good family atmosphere up there. Why break up that community?
"This sort of experience without any consultation is particularly upsetting to people who have already been uprooted before," Mr Fulton says.
Mr Des Sweeney, the manager of the Great Western Hostel, confirmed that the hostel had been booked to accommodate up to 200 asylum-seekers over a phased period. Some 80 asylum-seekers were currently staying there, he said.
Mr Sweeney said the hostel had a full restaurant, but also had self-catering facilities for those who would prefer to do their own cooking.
Mr Sweeney said that Galway was a tourist city and was therefore very friendly towards visitors. "I don't see major problems. We have been here for seven years, and we simply advise people not to stay out late at night and to keep away from fast-food outlets after 11 p.m. It is the same advice that I would give to my own sons. Most of the asylum-seekers don't drink, in any case, so they don't need to be warned about pubs."
The Western Health Board said that it was not consulted on accommodation, which is arranged through the OPW. It was unaware that the Department separated married couples from single people.
Ms Heike Vornhagen of the Galway One World Centre said that she could understand the men's fears. "A hostel in Eyre Square is grand for a couple of nights, but not long term," she said.
The Galway One World Centre has put a lot of energy and effort into supporting asylum-seekers in Galway, as have likeminded residents in Clifden, Cong and Westport in Co Mayo. However, the notion of Galway as a "welcoming city" is now under discussion. In a contribution to Muc Mhor Dhubh by the co-editor of the literary journal, The Burning Bush, Mr Kevin Higgins commented: "The sight of `niggers out' painted in large red letters on walls all around the city centre drove several nails into the coffin of Galway's so-called `cosmopolitan', `bohemian' image." "It has become very fashionable to joke about the Romanian Gypsy woman who plays the tin whistle on Shop Street almost every day," Mr Higgins wrote. "And remember, this is Galway, city of a thousand dodgy Neil Young impersonators . . .
"The truth is that Galway has a definite soft spot for the guy with the ponytail and the dreamy look on his face carrying a musical instrument down Shop Street. He has almost become a part of the city's corporate image. A hundred thousand welcomes! As long as he is not Romanian."