Locals in Buncrana have blocked the entrance to a proposed migrant centre to prevent two busloads of migrant men from being housed in the town. The centre is planned to accommodate 66 migrants who have claimed asylum.
A human chain was formed to stop buses getting through on Monday, and locals said they were upset and angry that the government was continuing to bring migrants to the town which was already struggling with housing and services.
They said that people were fearful and “left in the dark” about the government’s plans for the town. Almost 200 people were present at the protest on Monday, organisers said, and more than a thousand people had joined the local Facebook group to organise opposition to further migrant centres being opened.
The Department of Integration have adopted a de facto policy of avoiding consultation with local people before opening centres for migrants and asylum seekers in towns across Ireland.
According to government figures some 1,239 migrants seeking asylum were being accommodated in Donegal as at end of August 2023, while almost 6,000 Ukrainians are also being housed.
Kim McMenamin, who was present at the protest, said that the county was already hosting many asylum seekers, that there had been no consultation in Buncrana, and that locals had a right to be concerned when “busloads of unvetted men” were arriving.
“There are already so many migrants being housed in Buncrana, and we’ve had no consultation, and people had just had enough. Most have arrived in the last 6 months, and are being accommodated despite the fact that there are homeless Irish people in Buncrana,” he said.
He said that government decisions were being forced on communities, and that people were no longer willing to accept the lack of consultation and secrecy with “busloads of men arriving in the night”.
“66 men were headed for the former office block in Buncrana which has been converted specifically for migrants, and we don’t know who they are,” he said.
“61% of people, according to the statistics, are coming here with no passport,” he said. “But we’re meant to just accept that 66 men, and they are unvetted men, are being put into a centre in the town which is right next to four different schools and a library.”
“We have school children, women, walking up and down that road – and, again, we don’t know who these men are. We know so many of them have no identity documents, how can the Gardaí or anyone else really know who they are? They shouldn’t be in the country, they shouldn’t be in Buncrana. Most countries won’t let you in without a passport,” he said.
More than 60% of those who applied for asylum in 12 months to February 2023 at Dublin Airport had no identity documents, Department of Justice figures recently provided to RTÉ’s Prime Time revealed. Those numbers do not include Ukrainians.
Mr McMenamin told Gript that he believed Ireland does “not have international obligations to people who are coming here under false pretences.”
“There are genuine refugees, but there are also people abusing the system,” he said, adding that the government had “invite people here when they had no housing or services to offer them.”
“People are being brought to Donegal, but there’s no extra gardaí, there’s a shortage of medical services, people are waiting a week to see a GP – how can we keep adding migrants to that situation, telling them that we have housing and services we can’ even provide to our own people,” he said.
He said that local people rejected the labels of ‘far-right’ and ‘racist’, and said such labels were used to shut down debate and local opposition. “That’s not working anymore, the name calling,” he said. “There were 200 people out in protest with no notice, and many more in agreement.”
“HUGE CONCERN”
On Highland Radio, local councillor, Jack Murray said there was “a huge amount of concern across Buncrana” about what was happening, and that his phone was ringing constantly with calls on the issue.
He said that most of the protesters were “good Buncrana people, genuine, salt-of-the-earth people. There’s people who have genuine concerns about what has happened and I have serious concerns, serious reservations, about the building in question,” he told Highland Radio.
He added that services in the area were already seriously stretched, that communication with government apartments was lacking, and that Councillors had been sent an email saying arrival was imminent, but without other explanatory details.
Another caller to the programme, Des, said that he was working with young migrant men and said they were “a threat to no-one” and that they wanted to integrate and contribute.
However, speaking to Gript, Kim McMenamin was critical of Cllr McMurray and other local politicians, saying they had failed to meet the locals to express their concerns. He said that he and other local men and women should not have had to organise and protest to protect communities, and that local politicians needed to stand up for people.
“The county councillors were told that 66 men were coming but they kept it quiet – they never alerted the community, why was that?”
He said that ongoing difficulties with housing for Irish people was being ignored: “People think there are 11,000 Irish homeless, but the numbers really more like 250,000, when you consider all the young people couch surfing and who are living at home because they can’t afford rent or a house.”
“As soon as any property comes on the market, they are snapped up for migrants. There’s so much money in it,” he said. “It’s warehousing people for profit, its like human trafficking, its not humanitarian at all.
“This is not a humanitarian issue – we can see that most of those who are coming are not running away from a war at all.”
One Buncrana woman, Margo Kelly, told Gript that many asylum seekers were already being accommodated in rented houses, and she said this was driving up the rent for ordinary people who were effectively competing against the government who were seeking these houses for people claiming asylum.
Speaking to Highland Radio on the issue, one man said that 600 young people under the age of 25 had left the area since Christmas, and that those whose houses were being demolished because of Mica had nowhere to rent. He said that one person he knew was looking for a field where they could put a mobile home while their house was rebuilt.
He said that migrants were being brought to an area already lacking of services, and left with ‘nothing to do’.
However, another caller to the programme, Sinéad, said people coming to the town should be welcomed, and that it was important to understand that those arriving were human beings.
LOCAL REACTION
Margo Kelly told Gript that women and secondary school students had expressed fears and concerns about the use of the building in the town centre.
“We’ve a huge amount of emigration, all our young people are leaving, and the town is changing so fast,” she said.
“I know women like me who are afraid because of what’s happening. I could have always walked up the town any time of the day or night, and now I’d be afraid to. There are lots of us feel like foreigners in our own country.”
“I’m 71, I shouldn’t have to do this, the TDs and the Councillors should be protecting us and the community. We don’t know who’s coming in, it’s very upsetting,” she said.
“We were brought up to help people, but we are being treated like fools. Sinn Féin are as bad as the government, they won’t stop this happening either,” she said.
Local mother, Annmarie Hamilton, said that she had an 11 year-old daughter attending the local school.
“I am a single parent of 4 kids, and my youngest is 11 years old and I am protesting in Buncrana for the safety of my kids against single males being allowed in a building close to my child’s school,” she said.
“My fears are around my child’s safety and that of her friends.
A statement from the Garda Press Office on Monday’s protest stated: “Gardaí attended and managed a gathering at a Car Park in Buncrana, Co Donegal on the evening of 16th October, 2023.”
