The dispersal of asylum-seekers to the regions is widely covered in the provincial press this week. The editorial writer in the Clare Champion states that the Minister for Justice has been widely and rightly criticised for mismanaging the dispersal programme by failing to consult local communities and provide adequate support for the new arrivals.
"Instead of a policy of inclusion and integration, the emphasis is on detention and expulsion to such an extent that opportunities have been transformed into problems and caring, friendly communities have been unfairly depicted as racist and unreasonable.
"The situation has now deteriorated to the extent that it could be argued that the Department of Justice has done more to fan the flames of racism in Ireland than those idiots who shout racial abuse at every black person they see regardless of their asylum status or indeed citizenship," the editorial states.
The leader writer in the Nationalist believes local residents in the south Tipperary village of Clogheen, where an arson attack was made on a hotel due to accommodate 40 asylum-seekers, have been unfairly labelled as racist.
"They are part of a rural Ireland which believes it has been treated contemptuously and neglected by successive governments, and which feels the Celtic Tiger is a mythical animal which lives and thrives in Dublin and elsewhere, but certainly hasn't reached places like south Tipperary. What have the authorities done for this Ireland, they might well ask, except close down its post offices, banks, Garda stations and schools?
"It is against this background that the authorities attempted in an `underhand and secretive way', according to Clogheen residents, to increase the population of their village by 10 per cent by forcing them to take up to 40 asylum-seekers. Is it right for the authorities to pick a small rural area with no infrastructure, plant a lot of people there from a different culture, give them £15 a week, with no facilities, no integration, and nothing for them to do all day?"
The Kildare Nationalist reports that a legal action being taken by Kildare Chamber of Commerce to halt plans to house an additional 400 asylum-seekers in the town may not, even if successful, prevent Magee Barracks being used as an accommodation centre. The local community wants a limit put on the number of refugees or asylum-seekers in the town, pointing out that they have already taken their share by accommodating 300 Kosovar asylum-seekers.
In Kerry, according to the Kerryman, Ballymullen residents fear they will become a minority in their own area if plans go ahead to house 500 asylum-seekers at Ballymullen Barracks, on the outskirts of Tralee. Mr John O'Sullivan, a local resident, said asylum-seekers would outnumber Ballymullen residents by almost two to one.
The Offaly Independent reports that asylum-seekers are pleased with the welcome they received in Tullamore. Some of the nine asylum-seekers who moved to the midland town two weeks ago said they had not experienced any racism and found local people friendly. However, they said the prospect of spending four to six months, or longer, without being able to work was not one they looked forward to.
Moving to other stories, the Donegal People's Press reports that four women were treated at Letterkenny General Hospital last weekend after their drinks were believed to have been spiked with a date-rape type of drug.
A 23-year-old woman, recalling her ordeal, said she was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in a nightclub where she consumed only three drinks. She left one of the drinks unattended while going to the toilet and believes it was spiked. "I wasn't able to finish my drink and came over light-headed and I started getting palpitations. All of a sudden I felt really, really drunk. That was the last thing I remember, " she said.
Letterkenny Garda Superintendent Vincent O'Brien said people out socialising should never leave drinks unattended because once the "date rape" drug Rohypnol has dissolved you can't see or taste it.
The Dublin People reports claims by a city councillor that Government departments are distributing computers to schools and libraries without providing sufficient safeguards to prevent children from accessing hardcore pornography sites on the Internet.
Cllr Eoin Costello (FG) called on the Minister of State for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, to act immediately to ensure that Internet access for children is only available through a provider that does not allow access to pornographic sites.