FLANAGAN ‘APOLOGY’
A slap in the face, says Kerry town Empty words, says asylum seeker
RESIDENTS in a Co. Kerry town have rejected an apology from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, who admitted that sending 105 asylum-seekers to their town was ‘regrettable’.
A total of 25 inhabitants of the former Skellig Star Hotel in Caherciveen have contracted Covid-19, including a seven-year-old girl and three members of staff.
There are now fewer than 70 residents there, some of whom are still sharing rooms with non-family members.
Others have been moved to alternative centres nationwide.
After weeks of local and political pressure to shut the premises due to its alleged unsuitability, Minister Flanagan wrote a 1,500-word letter to the Kerryman newspaper to ‘apologise and explain’ why it was opened in the first place.
‘So we moved people in within days. It was fast. I admit that. It left little or no time for engagement. I admit that,’ he said.
‘It was presented as a fait accompli. I admit that too.
‘All I can say in my department’s defence is we simply did not feel we had a choice.’
However, the gesture to apologise to the local community dramatically backfired.
Jack Fitzpatrick, chair of the Caherciveen Community and Business Alliance, told the Irish Daily Mail that Minister Flanagan’s response was a ‘slap in the face’ to both locals and asylum seekers.
‘It’s not an apology we’re looking for but a solution to the mess that his department has created,’ he said.
‘There were so many things that the minister failed to address – like why the residents weren’t tested before they arrived.
‘I don’t accept at all that any real inspection was carried out at the hotel before they came here because anyone with a brain would see that the premises is completely unsuitable to house asylum seekers, especially during a health pandemic.’
Mr Flanagan also denied allegations that the outbreak originated with an asylum seeker who had been transferred to Caherciveen from a Travelodge hotel in north Dublin.
‘It is really difficult to look at the facts and the timeframe, and conclude that there was any link between that single case in the Dublin hotel and the residents in the Skellig Star becoming ill,’ he said.
However, Mr Fitzpatrick said he believes that it now seems like Minister Flanagan is blaming the residents of Caherciveen for the outbreak.
‘It’s a fact that there were no cases of coronavirus here before these asylum-seekers came,’ he said.
‘In one sense he’s apologising to us and in another he’s blaming us entirely. Even though we have provided the department with evidence that this hotel is unsuitable, they are still happy for the 70 remaining inhabitants to stay until this pandemic is over.
‘We’re now afraid that another cluster will break out. In fact, I think it’s inevitable.
‘Minister Flanagan has really dug a hole for himself and our only hope now is that once the new Government is formed we’ll have a new Justice Minister who’s not afraid of taking action,’ he added.
Lisa O’Shea, of the Fáilte Caherciveen group, is inviting Minister Flanagan and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to the town so they can see that the former hotel is not fit for purpose.
‘They’re so adamant that this hotel is perfectly safe for the residents to self-isolate, but I’m sure they would sing a different tune if they spent just one night there,’ she said.
‘The minister has offered the people of Kerry an apology, but what about the actual asylum seekers who have to spend night and day in these hellish conditions?
‘A total of 25 cases have broken out now and everyone is wondering if they’re going to get sick next. ‘I feel so sorry for them.’ Asked on RTE Radio 1 whether he would apologise to the residents of the centre, Minister Flanagan said: ‘I am apologising to the residents now through you.
‘I don’t have any problem apologising to the people living in the centre. For example, there was an issue with the boiler and there was no water at the beginning of the tenure there.
‘I understand the boiler is not fixed because of difficulties due to the pandemic – I apologise for that, I have no difficulty with that,’ he added.
However, residents at the direct provision centre have reacted negatively to the minister’s apology.
Azwar Fuard, who shares a room at the hotel with his wife and threeyear-old-daughter, told the Mail that ‘actions speak louder than
‘We simply did not feel we had a choice’
words’. He said: ‘There has been so much media coverage about this hotel over the past number of weeks.
‘We have told our story with the help of the local community, and yet nothing is being done.
‘The minister acknowledged that there were certain things he regretted, but why are there no plans to move us to a more suitable location? Even though we have our own room, we’re still together whenever we go downstairs to collect our meals. Even with 70 people left, we still can’t keep a safe difference from one another.
‘It’s like the Government are waiting for every single one of us to fall ill before they take action.’
Mr Fuard also said that he lives in ‘constant fear that my daughter will be the next resident here to catch coronavirus, which is why I’ll continue to speak out until something is done’.
Labour Party justice spokesman Seán Sherlock called on Mr Flanagan to apologise to the Dáil, as well as to the residents of the direct provision centre. Mr Sherlock said Mr Flanagan had ‘utterly failed’ the centre’s residents.
A spokesperson from the Department of Justice told the Mail that as of yesterday, the outbreak in the centre was over. ‘There is no longer a requirement for residents to selfisolate or stay inside the centre,’ a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said that residents ‘are subject to the same general restrictions as everyone else under Phase One of the Government’s roadmap’.
They also said HSE Public Health ‘wrote to residents to confirm this, and residents also received a letter from a senior department official thanking them for their co-operation over the past number of weeks in difficult circumstances’.
‘Constant fear my daughter will catch it’