A wicklow county councillor has expressed dismay at some of the figures leaked revealing payments made to provide accomodation to asylum seekers and migrants in the county.
As revealed on Gript, a listing of every location being used to provide accommodation to asylum seekers, alongside the amounts being paid by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to each provider, appears to have been accidentally released by a Dáil Committee.
The information is contained within a document which was sent by the General Secretary of the Department of Equality, Kevin McCarthy, to the Public Accounts Committee on the 8th of May. The document contains nine separate notes that it is commercially sensitive and not for publication. Despite this it was released without any redactions to the text; later documents from McCarthy to the Committee were redacted to remove the sensitive information.
A review of payments made to providers in Wicklow include:
Wicklow Councillor Gerry O’Neill said: “There are people making a lot of money out of this. If you raise any concerns around this issue they use the tactic imported from America, they have called people far right, I’ve had it myself in the council chamber.
Cllr O’Neill said that people that had lived in his area for years were being pressured because the government was paying providers thousands of euros a month over what existing residents are paying in rent.
“I have it on good authority that some of the people coming here are actually coming from the UK because the benefits here are better, it appears the government are openly admitting this themselves now”
Some Wicklow residents have also expressed dismay at the figures for the Grand Hotel, the Councillor said.
Wicklow TD’s have been contacted for comment on the figures and have yet to respond.
– Gript Staff