Urgent meeting sought over plans to use historic Mayo property for refugee centre

Mayo Aontú representative Paul Lawless has called for an immediate meeting with the Minister for Integration, Rodric O’Gorman, over plans to use Castlemacgarrett House and Estate in Claremorris for refugee and international protection accommodation.

Mr. Lawless stated: “It is important to state that Claremorris is an exceptionally welcoming town.

"The people of Claremorris have successfully welcomed hundreds of refugees into the town over the past two years.

"Up to 13% of the population of Claremorris is now made up of Ukrainian nationals, while across the county, Mayo has taken more than 5,000 international protection applicants.

"Mayo is second only to Donegal in terms of accommodating International Protection applicants.

"There can be no doubt the people of Claremorris and Mayo have made a tremendous effort in helping refugees and asylum applicants.

"The government's approach in terms of their unwillingness to communicate with the local communities is outrageous.

"The government is purposefully keeping communities in the dark, refusing to engage, and meanwhile busing people into buildings in the middle of the night, which is unfair on local communities and does not help integration of new arrivals.

"Even local councils are kept in the dark like mushrooms. It’s incredible that after months of speculation and information requests to the government, it was MidWest Radio which broke the story.

“The meeting gave the stage to many concerned local people who raised issues in terms of the strain on services in the town.

Services such as education, healthcare and garda resources are all under pressure.

"I spoke to one teacher who said: ‘The language barrier is impeding teaching and learning in the classroom. Students get one shot at education. It is unfair to the students of Claremorris and their teachers. It is also entirely unfair on our international students who are thrown into mainstream education with little language support.’

"We also know that the GP practices in the town have taken on hundreds of additional patients without the necessary government support.

"Waiting lists to see a GP in Claremorris are now two to three weeks.

"Primary care is already over capacity in the town while Mayo University Hospital is also under major pressure.

"We also have a garda force which is actually shrinking while crime continues to rise.

“Another man at the meeting spoke of the discriminatory nature of government policy, which allows the government to bypass planning laws for international migrants.

"Meanwhile, it remains incredibly difficult for local people to gain planning to build on their own land with their own money.

"He spoke of the pressure he is under to remove a modular structure on his own land.

“According to an Aontú parliamentary question, just €1.9 million of the €50 million Community Recognition Fund announced last year has been paid out to communities.

"The fund was supposed to be for communities struggling to accommodate migrants. Is it any wonder we have such a dearth of services?

“The government needs to come out and clarify the plans for Claremorris with the local people.

"The Government needs to address the concerns of the people without their slurs and accusations,” added Mr. Lawless.