The concentration of asylum-seekers in particular areas of cities such as Cork which were taking "more than their fair share" was storing up trouble that would reveal itself in the not-too-distant future in social difficulties, the chairman of the SHB, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, said.
With 24 per cent of asylum-seekers accommodated in Cork against 14 per cent in the midlands and 8 per cent in the south-east area, the danger was that a process of ghettoisation was beginning, he added.
During the debate on asylum-seekers in Cork over the past week, that term came to the surface several times. It was attributed to Ms Ni Chonaill in an interview with the Evening Echo but, without explaining what she did mean, she said her words had been taken out of context.
Mr O'Keeffe said local authorities had stopped building large housing estates because they had led to a type of ghettoisation in the past, but now those responsible for immigration seemed to be heading in the same direction. There were too many asylum-seekers in Cork already, and plans to provide further accommodation in the city, including Cork Airport Motel, should be halted.
Mr O'Keeffe added that on the doorsteps people were increasingly expressing their concerns about the growing number of asylum-seekers. "From a social point of view, we have to question the wisdom of putting so many people from so many different cultural backgrounds together in tight-knit accommodation. It is causing problems in the accommodation centres and problems within the wider community. If it continues, then, inevitably, there will be social consequences," he said.