There is frustration in the Roscommon town of Ballaghaderreen over proposals to install 47 modular homes to cater for more than 200 Ukrainian refugees.
The town, with a population of under 2,000, has seen more than 400 objections lodged to the modular homes plan. A large number of local people were surprised to learn of the proposals just a fortnight ago, when details of the project were unveiled in a local newspaper.
The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) put forward the plan to Roscommon County Council with Ballaghaderreen listed as one of several towns in the county identified for the installation of the modular units. A total of 47 units are set to be installed, to house 206 Ukrainians, according to local reports.
One local man told a heated meeting in the town on Wednesday night that it was time to look after the local people, as he pointed to the housing crisis that he said is leaving elderly people in the town unable to secure accommodation.
The elderly man told the public meeting, to cheering, that people are welcome in the town, Ballaghaderreen has “got nothing in return” and that “nobody speaks on our behalf.” The video of the exchange has since been viewed thousands of times on platforms like X.
“I am totally opposed to those houses going up […] They are costing €144,000, being manufactured somewhere else. Since we opened up in 2017, we have got no return at all. Most of the services brought in are from outside, as far as mullingar. We have got no benefit in this town at all, despite the fact that we have probably six or seven hundred non Irish people living in the town,” he said.
“They are welcome to the town, but we have got nothing in return. We have got no employment. The meat factory we had was knocked down, and it’s just gone back to agricultural land again. Nobody speaks on our behalf. We have no government representing us in Ballaghaderreen. The TDs that we have in this county are not government TDs, so what more can you expect to have more and more dumped on top of us?
“Enough is enough here tonight. I hope that if there is a committee formed, the first thing will be to stop these 47 houses. Now, the county managers have been directed by the government – some agency in the government – to ascertain we’re going to put refugees […] in those houses up there.
“I’m an elderly person,” the local man continued. “I’m 80 years of age. I meet every day elderly people who are looking for houses and they cannot get them. There are people beside me here that have been turned down over and over again. We must look after our own people, and it’s about time we looked after our own people.”
Michael Scally claims Ballaghaderreen is ‘a dumping ground’ at a public meeting against rumoured plans for 47 modular homes to house over 200 Ukrainian refugees. pic.twitter.com/mUX8weIuNH
— Eoghan Murphy (@eoghanymurphy) March 13, 2024
One local activist, Micheál Frain, voiced his objections to local paper, The Roscommon Herald, saying he believed that the plans from the Department of Integration had been “landed on a community which had done more than its fair share.”
Locals have pointed to promises made in 2017, when refugees from Syria arrived in the town.
“It’s seven years down the line, no extra services have come to Ballaghaderreen, it’s a simple as that,” Mr Frain said, adding that there has been a “lapse of information” and “vacuums in place” regarding the Department’s approach to immigration into the town.
The local man says that bad planning has put pressure on local services including schools and healthcare, as he called for the modular homes proposal to be put on pause until additional services are put in place.
“Ballaghaderreen has been walked on,” he told the regional publication. “There have been no extra services added to Ballaghaderreen since 2017. This plan needs to be stopped and revisited until such time when the services are put in place. Ballaghaderreen has had enough.
“I think Ballaghaderreen at this point in time has done its fair share – more than any town in the country,” said Mr Frain.
Local Sinn Féin Cllr Michael Mulligan has been among those to criticise the Department of Integration over a “complete lack of consultation.”
“People here are very annoyed. They have more than done their bit here,” he said. “People feel overburdened by the hundreds of refugees that have already come into the area and despite all the Government promises we have had no extra services in terms of our doctor, school and our garda station,” he said.
The Western People reports that Sinn Féin TD in the area Claire Kerrane raised the issue with Minister Roderic O’Gorman last week.
“I made it clear to him that there are significant concerns in relation to the proposals around capacity and lack of resources,” she said. “I also made it clear that in the case of Ballaghaderreen, it has more than played its part.”
Back in May 2023, the influx of refugees to Ballaghaderreen was raised in the Dáil by Deputy Kerrane, who said additional services and resources have not been put into the town, despite Syrian refugees arriving there since 2017.
“That is not fair,” she said. “It is part of the reason we are here today and why so many rural communities are now up in arms and frustration levels are growing. It is because they are not getting the resources.”
“Sadly, it is the most economically and socially deprived town in County Roscommon. There is a lot of poverty and deprivation in the town, which is a small rural town of a population of around 1,800. They have seen an increase substantially, from 2017 onwards, to about 400 refugees and international protection families and individuals and they have got zero support from Government,” the TD for Roscommon-Galway said.
‘GIVING GOODWILL FOR NOTHING IN RETURN’
“In the case of Ballaghaderreen, the school is bursting at the seams, with more than 200 pupils, and it cannot take in any more. Some of the classes in the school are being held in corridors. The funding has been granted for a new school, but they are in limbo because they are waiting for the Department to come back to them on what design to choose. Let us look at that and move it forward. Let us look at health in the town and get the HSE to look at the fact that the GPs are running waiting lists. What can be done there? That is not happening,” she said.
“There are towns like Ballaghaderreen that are giving goodwill for nothing in return. That, to me, is the most disappointing part of all. At the end of the day, the frustration and tension that is there now in towns such as Ballaghaderreen, where there is a massive stretch on services and resources, is totally avoidable. It is totally and completely avoidable if the Government works cross-departmentally to physically put in resources and services in towns like Ballaghaderreen that are taking in additional populations and getting no supports at all. That, to me, is the most disappointing part of all of this.
“Huge pressure is being put on rural communities in particular. The Government is not living up to and giving the same commitment these communities are giving in providing those resources and those services that are so desperately needed. When that is not happening, a vacuum is created. People are getting annoyed and frustrated, and then we find ourselves where we are now. That is a huge part of it. I think this is very much being left to one Department. We are not seeing a cross-departmental approach from Government. That is letting down a lot of rural communities.”
The Department of Integration has been contacted for comment.
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