Mayo concerns aired over lack of public consultation on migration issue

“We are being kept in the dark like mushrooms”, one speaker lamented when complaining at a public meeting last night about the lack of consultation on the refugee/asylum seeker situation as it affects the Breaffy community.

The population of the west Mayo village has exploded since last March due to the unprecedented influx of Ukranian and international refugees who are being accommodated on the site of Breaffy House Resort.

Government released figures yesterday which indicated a local population increase in Breaffy of 700 - 480 from Ukraine with 22O in international protection.

As has happened elsewhere throughout the country, there has been some community disquiet in Breaffy in recent weeks about the large numbers involved and other issues.

The concerns resulted in a number of local people, including Stephen Kerr, a native of Breaffy, who is a journalist with the Irish Inquiry website, and his father, Maurice, a retired bank manager, organising a meeting which was held in the Ivy Tower Hotel, Castlebar.

That meeting was attended by about 120 people.

Breaffy Community Council had disassociated itself from the meeting on the grounds that “it might be infiltrated by people who are not from the area and may have ulterior motives."

Against this background, Friday night’s meeting went ahead.

Opening the proceedings, Maurice Kerr said the meeting had been organised to hear any concerns the public might have about the large numbers of migrants entering Irish communities.

Mr. Kerr said that in his opinion the mass migration was 'a recipe for disaster'.

The meeting, which lasted about one hour and a half, was also addressed by Stephen Kerr.

When proceedings opened to the floor, the lack of consultation was uppermost in many speakers’ minds with one contributor complaining that the local community was being kept in the dark like mushrooms.

Other concerns raised included the issue of homelessness and the fact that mass migration is impacting supply and demand and rents keep rising.

The loss of tourism and jobs as more hotels were taken over was a death knell for a community, the meeting heard.

Two members of Mayo County Council, Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) and Blackie Gavin (FF) were the only public representatives to attend.

Councillor Donna Sheridan sent a message of apology for being unable to attend.

A number of other elected representatives informed the organisers they were not attending.

“There are people sleeping in cars up at Lough Lannagh because they cannot afford rents”, Councillor Kilcoyne stated.

It was agreed that a further meeting, on a date to be decided, will be held to form a committee and decide on further action.

Meanwhile, Breaffy Community Council, in a statement, has stated that following receipt of details as to the exact numbers of refugees/asylum seekers involved a community council meeting is planned for the near future where any concerns can be discussed.