Over the course of the last ten days or so, my colleague Matt Treacy has been reporting on a situation in Portarlington of which every voter in the upcoming election should be cognisant and aware.
For some years now the East End Hotel in Portarlington has operated as a reception centre for migrants – International Protection Applicants – living in Ireland as they await the resolution of their claims for asylum in this country. The property is operated ultimately by two brothers, Noel and Patrick Martin from Carrickmacross in my own home County of Monaghan. The Martins, through their companies, have been paid multiple millions of euros cumulatively by the Irish state for the provision of accommodation services to migrants.
About ten days ago, Gript learned from concerned residents that at two addresses in Portarlington – both normal sized homes in housing estates – men were being accommodated in large numbers. When Matt and our team approached some of these men, they confirmed to us that they are IPAS applicants who – in their words – “pay rent to Mr. Noel”, meaning Mr. Noel Martin.
Further, when we spoke to the owner of the house in question, she confirmed that the Martin brothers are in possession of the house, and that a dispute exists between her (the owner) and the Martin brothers over the legitimacy of their occupation.
A visual inspection of the house makes clear – from the outside – that the house is accommodating far more people than it was intended to. The front downstairs windows are blocked by bunk beds, which appear to be in the living room. It is generally accepted that blocking the main windows in a house constitutes a serious hazard in the event of fire and the need to urgently vacate a property.
Gript has been unable to confirm the exact number of men living and working in the house, but it is at least ten. Nor, due to their limited English and the apparent reluctance of the Martin brothers to answer our questions on the matter, can we confirm exactly what nature of the “rent” the occupants pay to the Martins is.
What we can say is this: International Protection Applicants are being accommodated in an overcrowded private house in Portarlington and the registered owner says she is not receiving any rent. We can also say that the hoteliers responsible for this situation have been paid millions in fees by the Irish state for the safe accommodation of migrants.
We can say also that many residents in the housing estates in question are living with the consequences of this: That a house on their street has in essence been turned into a doss-house by the policy of the Irish Government, with people coming and going at all hours of the day (as they must when there are more people in residence than there are bedrooms).
This is, really, a microcosm of the Government’s policy nationally: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, as well as many of their allies in opposition and in the media, will insist that Ireland is not “full”, and that claims to the contrary amount to racism, bigotry, or misinformation. Yet here we have a situation where migrants (who are people with human rights to dignity and fair treatment, just like you or I) are being herded like cattle into unsuitable accommodation over the objections of the owner of that accommodation. Meanwhile, two men from another part of the country who bought up a local hotel are profiting to the tune of eye-watering sums of money.
None of this happened by accident. This situation in Portarlington is a direct result of the policies of the present Government, both in terms of border control in the first instance, and then its policies in relation to migrant accommodation in the second instance. While immigration appears to have receded slightly as a front-line issue of public concern in recent months, the actual situation which provoked the concern in the first place has not really been addressed in any way.
People are still coming to Ireland in their thousands. The state’s policy remains that migrant accommodation should be outsourced to various private individuals and entities who are in a position to make a lot of money from their fellow taxpayers. Across Ireland, hotels and other facilities are being closed and re-purposed in the service of this emerging industry. The migrants themselves, it seems to me, are increasingly treated as a product, and a cash cow, for businessmen (and businesswomen) who would be foolish not to see their path clear to a quick buck.
It is self-evident that absent a change in national policy, this situation is going to continue, and going to continue to get worse. The Government, over the next five years, simply is not going to be able to address the housing crisis for Irish people and simultaneously develop proper purpose-built housing for the migrants that it continues to insist we must accept into infinity. The next five years, absence a change in policy, will be another five years of towns and villages across Ireland finding out on a Wednesday that a property will accommodate five hundred people from the following Friday, and that they have no right to object.
This may not have happened in your town, or your village, as yet. But absence a course correction, it is certain to happen at some point in the future.
I have no difficulty, based on the facts thus far established, in saying the following: The Martins are acting like amoral, if not outright immoral, cowboys in Portarlington. They are accommodating migrants in entirely unsuitable conditions. Their business is being supported by sloshing great waves of taxpayer money. All of this is underpinned by the support of the present Government. Of all those involved in this sorry tale, I can only identify two people – Noel and Patrick Martin – who are emerging from it better off than they were before it began.
Far from having a “compassionate and welcoming” immigration policy, the situation in Portarlington demonstrates that Ireland has something different: A policy that treats migrants as cattle and cash cows for a small coterie of cowboy businessmen on the make.
That is what will be on the ballot at the election, in a few weeks’ time. The record of this Government, and the policy proposals of the opposition. Do not pretend, when this situation comes to your own town, that you had no idea what you were voting for.