A public meeting organised by Councillors Gerry O’Neill and John Snell was held in Co. Wicklow last night to address local concerns about the placement of three asylum centres in the area.
The packed meeting took place in the community centre in the rural village of Manor Kilbride with 150 – 200 people in attendance.
The nearby area is the site of International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres at Kippure Lodge, Kilbride Army Camp, and former nursing home Crooksling.
Locals expressed frustration that the Crooksling site, which was previously used to care for the sick and elderly – and had been gifted by the state to the people for that purpose – was being used to house male asylum seekers.
Cllr. O’Neill said the care facility had at one time been home to 200 residents and had provided specialised care for elderly people suffering with dementia.
Disappointment was expressed by some in attendance that more local representatives had not attended the meeting.
There was much concern over allegations that a male asylum seeker who had been housed in the Knockalisheen IPAS centre had been moved to another IPAS centre in Kilbride after allegedly sexually assaulting a female member of staff at the Co. Clare facility.
Cllr. John Snell encouraged those in attendance to contact their local Garda Sergeant in this regard saying he felt some Gardaí “didn’t want to know” about the alleged incident.
Gript has seen a document allegedly sent from the Department of Integration relating to this matter. We have contacted the Department of Integration seeking comment in relation to its handling of international protection applicants who commit sexual offences.
They replied, The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) requires all residents and staff in Accommodation Centres to be treated with respect. To this end, IPAS has produced a Domestic, Sexual & Gender Based Violence Policy and House Rules & Procedures for Reception and Accommodation Centres, which outline the procedures followed by IPAS following any allegations of misconduct.
“IPAS cannot comment on any alleged individual incidents. Where any person suspects that a crime has been committed, this should be reported to An Garda Síochána and IPAS are committed to engaging with An Garda Síochána on any investigation.”
Cllr. O’Neill said that information as to the exact operations of the Kilbride Army Camp was “a bit vague” but that it is known that hundreds of men are being housed there.
“The army camp has been known as a training range for the Gardaí for short arm fire and for the army as well,” he said, adding that because it could no longer be used army personnel were now travelling to Cork in order to practise firing which he said was causing “discontent” among members.
He said that asylum seekers in the base were “being shifted” and that numbers fluctuated between 150-200.
“A lot of them are being moved to Limerick so the figures there vary from week to week,” he said.
Concerns were also raised that locals have to travel to Tallaght, Rathcoole, and other areas because of a lack of access to GP services.
Amidst an address of the crowd, local election candidate Conor Byrne, was booed off stage after answering an audience question about what party he is running with.
A woman in attendance said “You’ve lost the room” after Byrne said he was running with Sinn Féin.
Other voices from the crowd accused the party of being ‘fake opposition’ and of supporting the EU Migration Pact.
Byrne retorted saying the idea that Sinn Féin are “pro-refugee” or “open border” was a “useful lie” as the challenges from the crowd continued, leaving him with little choice but to concede the microphone.
Prior to this, Byrne said that he and others had been looking into planning permission for a development in the Kippure area where approximately 30 properties are alleged to have been built without planning permission where it is believed that the houses in question are intended for the use of IPAS.
Issues relating to drainage from an overwrought septic tank in the area draining into a river which feeds into the Co. Dublin Water supply was also raised.
A local woman said that she had contacted Irish Water about the issues but had been told to go back to Wicklow County Council who she said had hitherto offered her no assistance.
Cllr. O’Neill said that run-off from septic tanks attached to Kippure Lodge was polluting local lakes and water supply.
A man in the audience said that the influx of foreign nationals had been “positive” as schools in the area had been provided with more resources since their arrival.
A woman who says she lives beside the Kilbride Army Camp told the meeting that she frequently witnesses asylum seekers passing her home in the early hours of the morning shining lights from their mobile homes.
The woman who said she has two young daughters expressed fear for the safety of her family saying that nobody was living with the situation like she was because of the close proximity of her home to where the asylum seekers are housed.
The woman reported seeing 20 -30 taxis servicing the camp saying that – having personal experience of working in the taxi service – a taxi could not be gotten in the area “for love or money” before the asylum seekers arrived.
She said that having lived in the area for 24 years “with no trouble” she had requested that a farm gate be placed in front of her home and that the Department of Integration had sent workers to carry this out only for the gate to be installed upside down.
“Our privacy is totally gone,” she said, adding that “from the minute they walk down the hill, all they see is us.”
The woman said she had also observed ambulances and Garda cars going up to the site on a regular basis.
She said that an occupant of the IPAS centre who she learned had mental health issues had been left wandering around near her home and that she had contacted the authorities who came to get the man and brought him back to Tallaght before he arrived back in Kilbride two days later.
The woman encouraged the local people to engage in peaceful protests in hope of resolving the issues they are facing.
An elderly woman said she had suffered a broken bone in her wrist after being struck by a Garda vehicle last year in Blessington.
The woman related how she had been on the way to collect her grandchildren when she was struck by the vehicle and that her car was “turned around on the road” and was “very badly damaged”.
She said that while locals in the area came to her aid they heard “roaring like an animal” coming from the Garda car which prompted one lady to see what was going on.
“One of the ladies went down to see why no guard came to help me and she came back and she said to me ‘there’s an animal in that car’.
The lady said the woman reported that she had seen a Garda with their “arm pouring blood” while the occupant of the car was “kicking the life out of the other Garda”.
Gript understands the incident referred to by the woman is currently the subject of an ongoing prosecution
Local planning woes while IPAS needs no permission for developments
Cllr. O’Neill described as a “constant constant uphill struggle” the fight local people are made to put up in order to get planning permission for homes.
Gript spoke to a couple who said their son had been refused planning permission to build a house for himself and his partner on land that he owns.
“It’s so hard to understand and so hard on the people in this area,” said O’Neill describing how 30 houses were being built in the Kippure area allegedly without planning permission.
He said that he had raised this issue with Wicklow County Council who had expressed “no concern whatsoever” a situation which he said he could not understand.
He said that pollution from a septic tank servicing 200 refugees in the area was polluting the environment adding that there were some who said that a further 200 people could be sent to the area in the coming weeks.
He said it was the ultimate “aim” of those running Kippure Lodge to have “600 people there”.
He said that a Polish family in the area were being evicted from their rented home by a “big” property owner in the Blessington area who he said wished to access higher rental incomes by leasing the family’s rented home to IPAS.
He said the family were “threatened” to be “out by last Thursday” and that “not only would the management be there to move them, but the Gardaí would be there” as well.
O’Neill said the family who had “been paying their way” in Ireland were “scared out of their wits”
He said that these people were “being driven out” in order to make room for “refugees” where “greedy people” could make “10 or 12 grand” in rental income from IPAS instead of approximately 2,000 per month from ordinary tenants.