Hundreds of people who attended an ‘Arklow Says No’ protest against the placement of a migrant accommodation centre in the town have pledged to continue to block the site until “the government agrees to listen to the people” and “stops allowing asylum claimants into a country that can’t house them.”
The protest began on bank holiday Monday, after the Arklow Says No group formed in response to concerns that the old Eir depot building at the Croghan Industrial Estate in the town was set to become an asylum accommodation centre.
Local people held a homemade banner saying “Arklow Says No” and signs which said ‘no unvetted males near our homes and schools” and “house the Irish.”
Today, the group posted a letter sent to Carol Nolan TD today confirming that the building will be assessed by the Department of Integration who have received an offer to use the building for Ukrainian refugees.
However, the protesters say they have “no faith in the government in regard to who will be eventually housed in such a centre”, and say that with the number of non-Ukrainian asylum claimants rising again, it was a case of “Ukrainians today: tomorrow God knows who”.
The protest, which the Wicklow People described as “huge” and being attended by hundreds of people, heard concerns from local people.
Revonna Brauders, who spoke at the protest on Monday, told Gript that people were “tired of being pushed around” and that the Arklow Says No group was receiving huge support from the area.
She said that some of those who attended the protest had expressed serious concern about the proximity of the proposed centre to local school and crèches.
Credit: Arklow Says No
As was the case with protests last month in Mayfield in Cork city, organisers said that they did not want the state to ‘shift the problem on elsewhere’, but that a cap on immigration was needed.
“75% of people think the same,” Ms Brauders said, referring to recent polls – “Why are we being ignored. Why doesn’t the government care what the people think on this issue?”
Another local woman, Aoife Boyle said. “The government needs to listen to the people – ordinary people who work and pay taxes and want to raise our children – and they need to stop allowing asylum claimants into a country that can’t house them.”
“We’re reading that GPs all around the country are saying they can’t take any new patients, but then the government is insisting we take more people in,” she said. “Everyone knows someone now who is homeless or terrified they can’t meet their rent and people are seeing their own kids emigrating because they can’t get housing, yet we are meant to just accept maybe hundreds of people being placed here without.”
Ms Boyle said the government’s actions were causing “huge upset across the country”, and people were not willing to be ignored anymore. “These protests are happening everywhere now: it feels like the people against the government,” she said.
Ms Brauders said that a 24-hour protest, would begin on Sunday and that a major rally in Arklow was planned for Saturday at 2pm. All of the Councillors in the town had been invited she said.
She said that the town was “demand transparency and accountability” and that the number of people to be accommodated has not been provided, and the group wanted a guarantee that the building will not become an IPAS center.
“We have all seen what happens when communities are blindsided by such decisions, as evidenced by what is happening in Wicklow Town where chaos has ensued as Irish asylum policies have spiralled out of control and on to the streets,” she said. “We cannot let that happen here”.
She said it was evident that decisions about opening migrant centres in communities “are being made behind closed doors” and “without the consultation or consent of our community”.
“This is not about being anti-immigrant; it’s about demanding answers and ensuring the safety and well-being of our own people,” she said.
The Wicklow People reported that the protest “prompted an emergency meeting of local councillors, who have declared they do not support any site in the area being used as an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre”.
The Arklow protest comes after last week’s revelation that the new owners of the former Lilliput crèche in Rathdrum intend to transform the building into accommodation for families seeking international protection, ending hopes that the childcare facility would be retained for that purpose, the paper added.
However, Arklow People Before Profit hit out at opposition to an asylum centre, saying that graffiti which stated “No IPAS centre here” on the building was “absolutely shameful behaviour and does not represent the views of the majority of people in town.”
Speaking last month, the Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has said that while he accepted people “have the right to disagree with government policy” he did not believe in blockading, “particularly property where it’s now their accommodation. I don’t believe that’s appropriate”.
But another political campaigner, Darren McGovern – a local candidate for Ireland First – who travelled to the protest from Gorey said that people had a right to protest and that communities were standing up because of “fear and concern”.