Varadkar will 'give consideration' to possibility of meeting with Clare protesters
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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he will “give consideration” to the possibility of visiting Inch, Co. Clare, to meet with local residents to hear their concerns about the accommodating of international protection applicants in Magowna House Hotel.
It comes as Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman on Wednesday indicated he will not travel to meet the protesters and insisted the hotel will be used to accommodate refugees. Mr Varadkar told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne that he agreed the blockade should end, but that “these things need to be handled sensitively”.
The protest started when tractors and cars moved into place just after 6.40pm on Monday when a coach, carrying around 34 male asylum seekers, arrived at the gates of the hotel, which is about 5km from Ennis.
The protesters have vowed to carry on their blockade, saying late on Wednesday night they were "disappointed" that Mr O'Gorman would not meet them in person. Mr O'Gorman has said he is "open" to meeting protesters online or at the Department of Integration.
Mr Varadkar said accommodating asylum seekers was a crisis situation. He said the country was struggling to provide accommodation for the almost 100,000 people who had arrived in the country over the past year. Accommodating people in Magowna House Hotel and industrial parks was not ideal, but it was better than people having to sleep on the streets.
It was announced on Wednesday that 350 beds for asylum seekers are to come on stream this week.
Mr Varadkar said he was very concerned that “certain tropes” were being pushed. “I don’t want to put words in people’s mouths”, he said, but it appeared there was an attitude that “certain people” were not welcome. That could mean people from outside Europe, that single men should not be accommodated in the area, he said.
The accommodation being provided in Inch and in parts of Dublin, were not ideal, he acknowledged. “As a Government we have a responsibility to engage with communities, to take their concerns seriously”.
Mr Varadkar said that nobody had the right to say “this is my patch, we don’t want people like that in my area”. This was a major issue which required a whole-of-Government approach, every department had to "do its thing", he said.
The lead department on the issue was the Department of Integration which had been agreed under the Programme for Government. He had been happy for that to happen.
When asked if Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien should have greater involvement in the accommodation of refugees and asylum seekers, Mr Varadkar said he did not think there was anyone under greater pressure than Mr O'Brien.
“No two Ministers have more on their plate than Minster O’Gorman and Minister O’Brien”.