Residents of Portlaw, Co Waterford, have expressed concern about a plan to house up to 44 asylum-seekers in the town.
Officials from the Directorate of Refugee and Asylum Support Services met community leaders last night to outline the plan to move asylum-seekers into the town from the end of next month.
A Department of Justice spokesman said a maximum of 30 asylum-seekers, in family units, would initially be housed in a former Mercy convent in the town, but after three months the figure could rise to 44.
A Fine Gael county councillor from the town, Mr Paudie Coffey, said people were not totally against asylum-seekers being housed in Portlaw but support services were needed.
The town did not have a full-time garda, had no resident doctor and was about to lose a teacher from the local primary school. If families were coming in there would be more children using the school. "We're wondering what kind of support services will be in place for them as regards language and other issues."
A business source, who asked not be named, said there was "no mood of militancy" about the plan, but people felt the former convent was not capable of accommodating the numbers suggested.
He said people were concerned that Portlaw was being portrayed as an isolated village with no facilities. "We're only ten miles from Waterford, for God's sake; this is not the back of beyond."
There was a general acceptance "that we should house some refugees".
Another Fine Gael councillor, Ms Mary Greene, said there was concern that demand for private houses in the area might be affected. The first private housing scheme in the town for many years was being built close to the former convent.
Portlaw was a small town, she said. "Whatever there is to do in Tramore there is even less to do in Portlaw."
