There is growing concern among locals in the South Mayo town of Claremorris that too many people are being relocated to the area, prompting a series of public protests outside a building set to house IPAS applicants.
The Claremorris Ballindine Says No (CBSN) group gathered outside the old Eircom building on the Convent Road in Claremorris last week. A spokesperson for the group told Gript that it is understood the facility will house a number of refugees from Ukraine once building work has taken place.
Local man Mark Kieran, spokesperson for the local group, said that the membership wanted to clarify that CBSN was established in 2023 to campaign for a “sustainable approach to the mass migration policy” being implemented in the local area.
He said there was growing concern about locals regarding the numbers of people relocating to the town, something Mr Kiernan said was “already having negative effects.”
“Vital services are past saturation with little to no availability of doctors, dentists, school places and housing. Claremorris has had its population increase by 13% due to IPAS and BOTP, which is almost three times higher than the target of 5% stated in government guidelines,” he added.
Over 6,000 asylum seekers have been housed in County Mayo so far, which has a population of 137,000. In January, Mayo County Council hit the headlines when councillors argued that the refugee population in the county makes up 3.84 per cent of people in Mayo, as opposed to 1.53 in Dublin.
The demonstrations at the Eircom building come two months after Mayo County Councilors voted unanimously to pass a motion instructing its chief executive to withdraw cooperation with the Department of Equality.
The motion, brought by independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne, called for all cooperation to be withdrawn “until such time as an agreed strategy is put in place to properly coordinate the provision of additional services for the communities hosting refugees and international protection applicants”.
“All over the country, unsuitable buildings are being converted to migrant accommodation, with no planning permission necessary due to the emergency special instrument overriding the normal,safe and democratic procedure,” Mr Kiernan said.
“Claremorris has statistically taken far more than its fair share and negative effects of rapid population increase are being felt across all aspects of life.
“With no end in sight, and government white papers expressing their intention to increase and accelerate the number of migrants they intent to house around the country and in our town, things are only set to get worse, we are drawing a line in the sand and saying no.”
Mr Kiernan, who lives near the proposed IPAS centre with his partner and two children, told Gript that “every effort” had been made to work with local representatives.
However, he expressed frustration on behalf of the CBSN at the “disinformation and complete lack of information” coming from the government in relation to the development of the Old Eircom Building.
“We had people who spoke with both councillors who said there was no email. On the 13th January at Crossboyne both councillors said they would notify us of any updates and pledged unwavering support. Neither has happened. Cllr. Finn and Connelly had the e-mail about this development for over a month and said nothing to us,” he said.
“No consultation has taken place other than meetings our group has arranged with local politicians and after these meetings we have been told that the councillors have no power to affect national policy.
“Now that another development of modular housing units, with IPAS centre, seemingly imminent, we have taken it upon ourselves to protest these activities as is our democratic duty.
“The group has no political affiliations, consists of mainly people directly from Claremorris, and does coordinate with other “Says No” local group around the country in their strive for democratic control over national government policies being also forced upon their hometowns,” Mr Kiernan added.
He also referred to a report in regional publication The Western People, published last week, where Claremorris-based Independent councillor Richard Finn, who told the outlet that there was a lot of “fake news” circulating around the issue.
Mr Finn told the paper that just 50 per cent of people at the protest organised by the group last Sunday were locals, adding “it’s the same people all the time at these protests, except for a few people who might live nearby.”
“We don’t want to go down the route where we are vilifying property owners, or anyone who wants to upgrade their properties. There is a lot of fake news circulating, but I believe that’s down to how poor the Government have handled it along with our TDs. We’re all being left in the dark,” the local representative said.
“If you are to ask me, I don’t think refugees will be housed in that building, but it’s all up in the air. However, people have genuine concerns about international protection applicants coming in.”
In response, Mr Kiernan told Gript: “Cllr Finn said there was a lot of fake news circulating in relation to the site, and he doesn’t think that refugees will be housed there. This is despite the Chief Executive of Mayo County Council stating in an email sent to all councillors that: “[the] property has been recently offered as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.”
Mr Kiernan disputed the claim that the protest was only 50 per cent local people, stating: “Cllr Finn went a step further by saying half people there weren’t from Claremorris, and it’s the same people attending each time. The article also referred to dozens of people attending the gathering.
“But we collected over 80 signatures on the night, with publicly available photos and video showing 100 people plus out late on Sunday night.
“Many expressed apologies for not being able to attend. The makeup of the crowd was predominantly people from the locality with some coming from other areas in Mayo that are also affected by the government mass migration agenda.
“And this is reflected in the signatures of the petition which will be available at our next event, and people can watch the full video of the event which is available on out Facebook page,” the local man said.
“As per the government documents on Guidelines for Temporary Accommodation, “There should be a general objective not to disproportionately alter the balance of established communities; anything in excess of 5% of the current population should be very carefully assessed”. Figures suggest that 13% of the population of Claremorris is now made up of Ukrainian nationals, while across the county, Mayo has taken more than 5,000 International Protection Applicants.”
The Department of Equality and Integration said in a statement provided to Gript that it could only confirm the use of a premises once a contract has been signed, and will, in the first instance, inform local public representatives and statutory agencies through its Community Engagement Team.