A uniformed garda stood holding the door of Wexford Garda Station open as two Romanian men, one on each side, chatted to each other. Two more refugees stood on the street outside the station. As local people enjoyed their Bank Holiday Sunday, gardai and members of the local social services were kept busy with the latest group of Romanian people to arrive in the county. Fourty-five refugees were found hidden in containers on the freight vessel which arrived from Cherbourg on Saturday afternoon. By yesterday evening some were being housed in hostels in the small town of Bunclody. The remainder were given sleeping bags at the Parish Hall in Rathangan.
The refugees arrive at Rosslare Harbour as stowaways. They smuggle themselves into containers on trucks in cramped and uncomfortable conditions. The journey to Ireland's east coast takes 16 hours and the adults and children have to use the trucks as lavatories for the duration. Despite the trauma of the journey, however, they display immense relief on arrival and are calm when dealing with gardai. "They don't mind what you do with them once they arrive on land. Once they are here, they are happy," said one garda.
A local newspaper suggested that there was growing disquiet at the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Wexford. A strongly worded front-page article in the Wexford People made unsubstantiated claims about the behaviour of Romanians and accused the men of trying to impregnate vulnerable girls in a bid to secure Irish passports. Gardai however, say that although a section of the local community may be restless over the issue, there is "nothing concrete" to support claims that the refugees have caused disturbances or been involved in crime locally.
Gardai expect other Romanian refugees to arrive at Rosslare Harbour, as the freight vessel from Cherbourg docks three times each week.
One Garda source said some of those already in Ireland were in communication with others in Romania prior to their departure from Cherbourg.
"When they docked here, they were greeted by Romanians already here and showered with gifts and food. They expected bed and breakfast accommodation straight away. "They knew that something was wrong when they were not treated as the others who were in bed and breakfast and on social welfare. They are definitely phoning back home," he said. Some Romanians have admitted to gardai that they paid truck drivers at Cherbourg to hide them in containers for amounts up to one hundred dollars and three hundred deutschmarks.
The source also said he believed the French authorities were "turning a blind eye" to the presence of refugees on vessels to avoid dealing with the situation themselves. "Ninety per cent of them are here for the money and maybe 10 per cent are genuine cases, but how do you weed them out? The more we let in, the more will come," he said. Local gardai accept that the influx of refugees is putting an additional strain on their resources and presenting an even heavier workload for local social services. However, they stressed that they had a duty to process those seeking political asylum and to establish their bona fides.
According to gardai, those arriving speak of "political asylum". As a result they cannot be deported and must have their applications processed by the authorities. They receive accommodation and social welfare payments until their applications for asylum are dealt with by the Department of Justice. Last week, five Romanian refugees were sent back to Cherbourg, as they did not officially seek political asylum.