Locals learn that refugees are coming... via grapevine
THE Government was last night accused of not consulting local residents in a small Co. Kildare town which is due to host over 500 Syrian refugees.
Around 520 will be temporarily housed in the 23-bedroom former Hazel Hotel in Monasterevin in three- to four-month rotations of around 70 at a time between now and 2016.
The initiative, which is being overseen by the Department of Justice, is being run by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration.
The first four refugees – a group that includes a mother and her young daughter – have already arrived and a further 70 are due at the former show band venue by the end of the month. But the first that many of Monasterevin’s 3,000 residents heard of the news was a series of rumours four weeks ago, followed by stories in their local newspaper and on a radio station.
‘The first we knew something was going on was when we noticed work going on at the hotel,’ said local resident Mick Whyte. ‘We didn’t know anything at all until we heard something on the local radio station.’
Local TD Seán Ó Fearghail said: ‘There is widespread support for the development. But the whole thing has been regrettable in how it has been handled. The community shouldn’t find out on the grapevine.
‘In circumstances where you don’t give the people who are positively inclined a lot of information, then the negativity begins to build up.’
When the Irish Daily Mail arrived, a man who insisted that we leave kept repeating: ‘Talk to the Department of Justice.’
A Department of Justice spokesperson said: ‘The Hazel Hotel in Monasterevin is being used for the temporary accommodation of refugees displaced by the Syrian conflict.
‘The first four such refugees arrived from Lebanon on Monday, August 24, 2015.
‘A further 72 refugees (15 families) displaced by the Syrian conflict will arrive from Lebanon in September.’