Wicklow Cllr. Gerry O’Neill has said renters are being asked to leave their homes to allow landlords to earn bigger payouts by offering their properties to the government to accommodate asylum seekers and refugees.
His comments were reported by Independent journalist Myles Buchanan after O’Neill expressed concern as the government is assessing a property in Dunlavin with a view to housing 32 migrants there.
O’Neill questioned whether Wicklow – which is already housing several thousand refugees and international protection applicants – could cope with newcomers.
“In the Blessington area I have been dealing with people over the last couple of weeks who have moved into the town, into a social housing programme, and their children can’t access the local schools as they are full.” said O’Neill.
“I think it’s vitally important when we are bringing in dozens and dozens of these unfortunate people, that we have the proper infrastructure in place in west Wicklow, which we don’t have.” he said.
“I would express concern over the amount of refugees who could be coming into the area, where you have 30 to 40 people per house,” he said, adding . “I don’t know what sort of control or regulations there are there from a health and safety aspect. God forbid if something does happen. I don’t know who is going to be responsible.”
“It’s also putting pressure on Wicklow County Council’s housing section, where we actually have people being asked to leave rental accommodation where the landlord can make ten grand a month instead of two grand a month.”
Speaking to Gript Cllr. O’Neill said he was in no way “anti-immigrant” but that a point had been reached where resources were not available for the existing residents in the area.
He said locals were experiencing difficulty accessing GPs and medical care because of the growing population.
O’Neill said that although there were many good landlords, certain elements were using “underhand ways” to get existing tenants out in order to benefit from rental incomes which he said can be “five times higher” than renting to ordinary tenants.
Last year Gript reported on plans to house 950 Ukrainian refugees in the rural village of Annamoe in County Wicklow.
Pastures New, which provided tents for migrants in Stradbally, was offered a contract to house the refugees on an area of land on Glendalough Estate.
After local opposition the decision was withdrawn. At the time Gript reported: “Concerns were raised about the validity of the contract with Pastures New Limited and that was something that was focused on at our recent public meeting with residents.”
Cllr. Shay Cullen said, “There were huge concerns from the community which were aired at a recent public meeting, we have worked hard to reverse the decision, and thankfully the pressure has paid off and the facility will not be going ahead”
Asked if he felt there was a sense of a change in attitudes around the country about the issue of immigration and how it was being dealt with, Cllr Cullen said:
“There seems to be a sense that the government is firefighting and there are concerns about the serious lack of planning, the country is full in terms of accommodation available. We are building more houses than ever but the benefit of that is not being seen. It is not right to bring Ukrainian people into this country and put them into tents in a field.”