Celebrity chef Paul Treyvaud has slammed government plans to use 600 hotel beds previously used by Ukrainians to accommodate International Protection (IPAS) Applicants.
It is understood that the government has earmarked over 600 beds which have become free to accommodate IPAS applicants, as the government continues to grapple with the immigration crisis – with the number of asylum seekers being accommodated by the State climbing to 30,256 this week.
There are presently 1,780 male IPAS applicants who have not received an offer of State accommodation.
It comes as it emerged the government is planning on using Thornton Hall in north Dublin for large-scale tented accommodation for asylum seekers. It is understood that part of the 156-acre State owned site could be used for “emergency style” accommodation.
The Dublin site had previously been earmarked to be a ‘super prison,’ however the Department of Integration confirmed earlier today that it will be used to house migrants.
Speaking on the Hard Shoulder on Newstalk on Thursday, TV personality and restaurant owner Paul Treyvaud, of Treyvaud’s Restaurant in Killarney, said it was “absolute insanity” to continue using hotel beds, hitting out at how the government has “decimated” the tourism industry here.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the same result […] I’m not surprised by this Government at all, they’re clueless and have no idea how many problems they’ve created with their policies,” he said.
“It’s been decimating tourism for years. They said a few months ago they weren’t going to use any more hotels and it’s an absolute lie.”
He went on to accuse the government of being the “biggest culprit” of “misinformation and disinformation” in Ireland.
“The absolute lies they spew out to the Irish people, it’s absolute insanity even to consider using more hotel rooms,” he said
“How much of an industry can you actually decimate and they’re about to do it more.
“They said they weren’t going to use any more hotels and they said once Ukrainians started going back home that they’d be releasing rooms back to the tourism industry – but they’re clearly not.”
He said his issue was with the government policy, which has “failed from day one.”
Earlier this year, Fáilte Ireland expressed concern about the use of hotel accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers, saying that it has had a “significant impact” on Ireland’s tourism industry.
Paul Kelly, the charity’s CEO, estimated that between €750m and €1.1 billion has been lost to the Irish economy so far.
Mr Kelly said that an estimated €200 million had been lost in tax revenue as well, because of the loss of tourism accommodation.
“Our research showed that about 12% of registered tourism accommodation has been withdrawn for humanitarian reasons,” Mr Kelly said.
John Lannon, CEO of the charity Dorris, told the programme that proposals for tented accommodation at Thornton Hall was “better than being out there on the streets,” adding that there were people with urgent medical needs with no accommodation.
IPAS applicants, along with homeless Irish people need to “be treated with the same respect and human dignity,” he said, pointing to the housing crisis.
“We need to see people moved on to accommodation which is more fit for purpose,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking today, Taoiseach Simon Harris hit out at what he called a “bizarre” focus on accommodation for asylum seekers.
“It’s bizarre that the only part that we want to discuss is accommodation,” he said, adding:
“We also have to discuss why are so many more people coming to our country, and discuss that in the round.
“Migration is a good thing by the way, our economy benefits, our country benefits, our society benefits.
“But we’ve had an immigration system that has been used to processing maybe 3,000-3,500 people a year, to one that is now used to seeing over 20,000 people.”
Asked about how to address the problem, Mr Treyvaud said, “It’s too late already.”
“It’s been two years since this has been going on. Anyone who said that this was going to cause problems for the tourism industry was labelled far-right, fascist, nazi, all these kinds of things,” he said.
“And now our own Taoiseach is coming out and he’s changed all that by saying the exact same thing – by saying that this is now the common sense approach.
“What war or persecution is taking place over in the UK? In Liverpool, in Birmingham, in Bristol, where [loads] of these people are coming in from? What’s going on in Spain or France, where [loads] of people are [arriving] from?” he asked, as he blamed the government for promising people houses if they arrived in Ireland.
“We’re trying to label, we’re trying to blame, we’re trying to waffle,” he said, adding: “Nobody is calling out the truth. Try arriving in any other country without a passport – there’s not a hope you’ll get into it, but we have taken in tens of thousands of people who have come into this country undocumented, no passport, no nothing.
“And our answer is ‘Sure come on, look, and we’ll figure it all out, and sure look, if we want to send you home, would you mind heading off, and off you go and sort yourselves out and leave.’ The country is an absolute mess.”
The restauranteur denied the government had adopted a more robust approach to immigration in recent months, saying: “They absolutely haven’t.”
“Look at what’s going on in Mount Street, look at what’s going on in the grand canal. And it’s probably a blessing in disguise that this is happening, because when it was happening all over the country, with tourism being decimated, everyone turned a blind eye, because look, it’s down there in Killarney, or it’s down there in Westport, or it’s up there in Donegal. No need to worry about it. But now it’s in [Dublin] 4, now it’s a problem.
“I can’t stress this enough, this is absolutely destroying tourism in this country. We have become so uncompetitive because of basic supply and demand. Hotel prices have gone through the roof. Everything has gone through the roof [because of] a deal with tour operators coming in from America, and from all over the world, who are now turning round and saying, ‘What’s going on in Ireland? You’ve gone so expensive.’
“In order to solve the problem, you’ve got to find the cause of the problem and stop waffling about possible solutions.
“From day one, this government has made an absolute mess of immigration and we are now looking at the results of them being completely inept at doing their jobs.”