A government politician has said that Ireland suffered from trying to “satisfy everybody” on migration, describing past policies of housing migrants in fields as “utter madness.”
In an interview with Gript this week, following a Monday appearance on Midlands103 radio regarding the failed Lissywollen accommodation centre in Westmeath, a Fianna Fáil councillor stated that the State needs a “root and branch review” of its approach to asylum seekers.
Westmeath Cllr. Aengus O’Rourke said that previous plans to house migrants in tents were a “mad idea from the very start.”
He was also critical of former Integration Minister and Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman.
“I am personally very frustrated about the lack of interest by anybody in what the state may have lost or spent or both in terms of the mad decision by Roderic O’Gorman to shoehorn 1400 single men into a field in the heart of Athlone town, which was a mad idea from the very start,” he said.
“But it has cost the state millions, and no questions asked.”
O’Rourke noted that a broader review of the accommodation system was necessary, praising the recent change in tone from Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Taoiseach Simon Harris, saying that others were “afraid” to speak with such clarity previously.
“[Really we have] to look at what our resources are, what have we a capacity for in terms of dealing with the migration issue and how do we properly accommodate those who are here legally and who have the documentation to back up their reasons for being here,” he stated.
“Those who have no reason to be here and who managed to get to the country either as a third stop or a fourth stop or via the North of Ireland or however else they managed to get here… well they should be returned to where they came from.”
Addressing the issue of political correctness and a lack of clarity in political discourse, O’Rourke said the country had failed to look at the situation realistically.
“…That’s what we suffered from I suppose post-Covid and the onset of the migration situation, it’s like we were trying to be all things to all men and women,” he said.
“Whereas without taking a cold hard look at the situation in a realistic manner we were trying to just satisfy everybody and every country.”
He went on to say that politicians need to be more forthright with the public.
“We need to just bloody well speak in more plain English and be honest with the people,” he remarked.
Turning his attention to the political opposition, O’Rourke criticised left-wing parties for their stance on the migration debate.
“I just think the Left have been lost on the issue really,” he said.
“They’ve been floundering to find their own position on it, and I think perhaps they’re still living in a world where they feel they need to satisfy everybody.
“You can’t ride every horse in the Grand National. But I think that the Left seek to sit on the safest places on the fence, and that’s not how you run a country. You need to be honest with the people, you need to call it as it is.”
O’Rourke also confirmed that the Department of Justice will reinstate the Lissywollen site in Athlone to its original condition.
“They had removed all the temporary tents but they had left the land with hard stands and concrete and plumbing and trenches so it was very much a different site to what it was when they got it,” he explained.
“So we pushed through our planning enforcement in Westmeath County Council that they reinstate the land and the Department of Justice have confirmed that they’re going to start a process now of reinstatement which will take three months.”
The controversy in Westmeath stems from a failed bid by the State to fast-track a large accommodation centre in the county, which was extensively covered by Gript.
The development was successfully challenged in the High Court by local politicians, including Paul Hogan, John Dolan, Frankie Keena, and O’Rourke.
The site had seen millions of euro of public money spent on legal battles, temporary tents, and other works before the project was halted.