A protest is planned to take place on Saturday afternoon at 2.30 pm beginning at the crossroads in Bun Beag in Co Donegal, as local concerns grow in relation to proposals around migrant centres.
Another meeting is apparently organised for tomorrow evening about the situation in Loch an Iúir. n West Donegal. Locals there are objecting on the grounds of lack of consultation and added pressures on services in the Gaeltacht community.
The Raidió na Gaeltachta news programme, Barrscéalta, said that they had attempted to contact the organisers of both the protest on Saturday and the meeting tomorrow evening but had failed to do so and invited them to contact the programme.
According to a response which Raidió na Gaeltachta received from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) the Department are unaware of any complaints from refugees staying in accommodation at Loch an Iúir regarding their conditions or food.
Barrscéalta reported that they had finally received a response to the many queries which they had sent to the Department and to other agencies involved in the refugee accommodation and application process, but that this was the only reply they had received to date.
The Department did not respond to a query regarding an attack by four men on two men in their 30s – apparently two of the men who are staying at Loch an Iúir – which took place on Sunday evening. A Garda spokesperson told Barrscéalta yesterday that it appeared that the men had been driving a car with either British or Northern Irish registration.
We had reported previously that some of the 30 or so residents at Loch an Iúir had been on hunger strike, seeking a meeting with local Councillor Micheál Mac Giolla Easpaig, but there have been no updates on this.
Micheál Colm told Barrscéalta that whatever local concerns there were regarding the situation in relation to services and so on, that none of it was the fault of the men staying in the accommodation.
Last week, a protest against the moving of people claiming asylum to Buncrana was successful.
The men set to be accommodated under the management of King Accommodation Services, were moved last Thursday to another location outside of the county.
As Gript has previously reported, the placing of the men in the town had led to considerable disquiet. Some of the protestors were also annoyed that they were being unfairly depicted in the media.
Sinn Féin came in for particular criticism and it was noticeable that Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn who are the sitting Sinn Féin TDs for Donegal were careful not to engage in language which depicted the protestors at Buncrana or Loch an Uíur as “racists” or “right wing.”
As we pointed out, both of them made statements regarding the need for local consultation and the lack of information which was leading to legitimate concerns among communities – the same concerns which have been condemned by Sinn Féin members when issued by protestors in other locations.
One point that was made by Doherty – in whose home village Saturday’s protest is taking place – in relation to the protests does need to be challenged. When interviewed last week he stated that all people who come to Ireland to seek international protection as refugees are “vetted” as part of an international process involving fingerprinting, and by implication police checks.
Given the huge numbers of people who arrive here without any documentation or with false documentation but who are still allowed to submit applications for asylum, one must wonder at the extent or efficiency of this vetting.
This is especially true when the Irish state is not a part of the Frontex EU border control agency although the increase in detection, at least, appears to be down to Garda use of the Frontex False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO) system which claims to be able to almost immediately detect false identification.
Perhaps too Pearse might have a word with his party colleagues such as Kerry Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly who in April objected to the manner in which Frontex deals with illegal border crossings, and Senator Paul Gavan who in opposing any deportations claimed that Frontex was “involved in illegal pushbacks.”
Pearse and Pádraig are correct to at least defend their own voters who do have legitimate concerns about mass immigration. But also about exactly who is being allowed to enter this country which, as recent reports including of horrific crimes, is clearly something that the authorities do not have a proper handle on.