The Mayor of Limerick John Moran highlighted concerns over proposals for an asylum seeker accommodation centre in the city and made an urgent request to be consulted on the plans.
Records released under Freedom of Information show that Mr Moran contacted Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman on the issue in July.
Mr Moran, Ireland’s first directly elected mayor, assumed office after a vote by the people of Limerick in June.
In letters to Mr O’Gorman, Mr Moran cited part of the legislation underpinning the office of directly elected mayor, Section 35, that entitles him to request consultation on ministerial policies that the mayor believes will impact on Limerick.
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On July 5th Mr Moran wrote to Mr O’Gorman about the Government’s strategy for housing international protection applicants and said: “I believe that your department is planning to utilise several large-scale properties in Limerick.”
He said it is “of importance that we identify the areas to increase provision of additional supports for already constrained local services”.
Mr Moran asked for “the opportunity to be consulted on the policy underlying these developments and initiatives, and whether there are better alternatives for Limerick”.
He suggested meeting Mr O’Gorman when he was in Dublin on July 9th.
Mr Moran sent another letter on July 10th to “highlight the high-level urgency on the Section 35 request”.
He referred to reports about a proposed accommodation centre at River House on Charlotte’s Quay suggesting consultation is needed “to ensure social stability around the idea”.
Mr Moran wrote: “This is a move by Government which people are upset and disappointed by. From my reading of the situation, this is primarily due to a lack of consultation with the people in the surrounding areas of the planned development, particularly in relation to River House, Charlotte’s Quay and shared by many of us in City Hall.”
He said matter is “of such high-level urgency” that he raised it at his first meeting with Taoiseach Simon Harris.
He asked that Mr O’Gorman’s office “make urgent contact with my office, to organise a call between both you and I.”
The Department of Integration told The Irish Times that Mr O’Gorman and Mr Moran met in recent days.
Its statement said the department is working with communities all over Ireland to source and provide accommodation for international protection applicants under Irish and EU law and “our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution”.
It said Mr O’Gorman and Mr Moran discussed “a range of issues, including the well-documented shortages of suitable accommodation for international protection applicants, and the Government’s implementation of a Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy to address these shortages and build a sustainable system.”
The department said two sites are currently being brought into use in Limerick city, at Ballysimon where a contract is in place and the Charlotte’s Quay location which is currently “being appraised by the department”.
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