Ukrainian women and children to be moved from Kerry to make space for male asylum-seekers
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Some 135 Ukrainian women and children who have been staying in a Killarney hotel since March have been given less than 48 hours' notice that they are being moved to Co Mayo to make way for almost 200 male asylum-seekers.
The mayor of Killarney told an emergency meeting of community leaders that moving asylum-seekers into a hotel and moving out Ukrainian refugees living there for six months “does not make any sense”.
Some 192 men were bussed to the accommodation - Hotel Killarney - on Saturday from CityWest in Dublin. Some 16 nationalities are among the 192 males including from Libya, Algeria, Iran and Georgia.
The Ukrainian residents were informed verbally on Friday night/ Saturday they were being moved and then formally, in writing, on Monday at 3pm. The Ukrainian families in the hotel, including up to 40 school-going children, are to be bussed to Westport on Wednesday.
The children attend the nearby St Oliver’s National School nearby. Colm O’Súilleabháin, Principal of the school, in Ballycasheen, said he and other school principals were “demoralised” after putting so much work and effort into integrating the Ukrainian community at Hotel Killarney.
“The integration was working,” Mr O’Súilleabháin said.
“At this point to move them is wholly unjust,” Mr O’Súilleabháin said.
It was not a question of prioritizing one group over another, and the men arriving at Hotel Killarney which is now Direct Provision Centre had every right to be in Killarney, Mr O’Súilleabháin stressed.
But the fact was the group of Ukranians in the hotel were in Killarney with over six months and had settled in with their children.
“Huge supports have been put in place and the supports are working. There is integration,” he said.
The primary school principal had just taken a call from Seán Coffey, principal of St Brendan’s Secondary school in Killarney where some of the teenagers attend. He is equally disappointed Mr O’Súilleabháin said.
There had been “a huge co-ordinated response” from the Killarney community in March.
Parents associations too had worked hard at the integration and there had been coffee mornings and social walks in the national park.
“It’s all a bit demoralising to be honest about it,” Mr O’Súilleabháin said.
“The model of moving children willy nilly will not work for schools,” he said of moving the children from Killarney to Westport
A source said the Ukrainian women at Hotel Killarney were distraught. Several are working in the town, including seven at the hotel itself, while others are working in businesses in the town centre.
The mayor of Killarney, Niall Kelleher, has called for a reversal of the decision by Ipas, the international accommodation agency. He has also called for health and other supports for Killarney, which is now hosting large numbers of asylum-seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
An emergency meeting took place at the hotel on Monday evening attended by Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, the Killarney Immigrant Support Centre, and school principals as well as Ukrainian representatives.
“We want that decision reversed. How does it make sense we would remove people here since March in order to install others?” Mr Kelleher said.
Ipas is moving people “like pawns on a chessboard,” he added.
However Children's Minister Roderic O’Gorman has rebuffed the calls to stop the relocation refugees saying that pressure on the system means it has to happen.
Mr O’Gorman was responding in the Dáil to Kerry TD and deputy Government whip Brendan Griffin, who branded the move as “totally outrageous” and called on Mr O’Gorman to intervene and “do the right thing”.
Mr Griffin said these families have settled in Killarney, put down roots, enrolled in schools, and the mothers are working locally.
Mr Griffin branded the move as “inhumane”.
Mr O’Gorman accepted the move to Mayo will have an impact on families and on individuals.
He said the reason for the move is the current pressure on the State's measures to meet the accommodation needs of Ukrainian displaced persons and international protection applicants. The number of Ukrainians arriving in the country has doubled in the last month, the minister added.
He said international protection applicant numbers remain high and he and his department continue to have a real difficulty in sourcing accommodation for international protection applicants.
“We've already had a situation where because of that lack of accommodation for international protection applicants, we have to turn international protection applicants away for a number of days,” he added.
He said he knows asking people to move will have an impact on them.
“I absolutely accept that," he said. "But fundamentally, my department has to be in a position to provide accommodation and to provide meals for all applicants — Ukrainian and international protection applicants alike — and that's what we're seeking to do.”
Mr Griffin said: “This is completely unacceptable. And I am calling, minister, on you to make the proper decision here.
“I'm asking for you to look at the alternative accommodation, and if these people must be moved, we avoid this appalling, appalling situation,” he added.
Mr O’Gorman is to meet with local TDs later this afternoon on the matter.
Meanwhile, Killarney's mayor has said that extra tourist properties have come on stream in the town now the high tourist season is past, and the Ukrainians could be accommodated in those premises, if their hotel is now becoming a direct provision centre
There are now about 2,000 Ukrainians in the town, along with hundreds more in direct provision centres, Mr Kelleher said.
"We need the extra provision in health and other services for the increase in population. We need a temporary increase in GMS to work alongside existing doctors in Killarney,” Mr Kelleher said.
Health and mental health services were already under strain before the arrival of the refugees, Mr Kelleher added.