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Asylum Seekers Tell Locals

ASYLUM SEEKERS now residing in Inch have said they were not told where they were travelling and that they had “no choice” in the matter writes Páraic McMahon.

34 male asylum seekers arrived in Inch on Monday evening, five days after the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth issued a memo confirming that a twelve month contract had been issued to the operators of Magowna House to accommodate 69 men.

Of the original 34, five men departed before lunchtime on Tuesday and headed back for CityWest in Dublin. The men are from Afghanistan, Somalia, Yeman and Palestine.

One asylum seeker who wished not to be named was angry and confused that locals had blocked off access to the facility. He was equally frustrated with the manner in which accommodation provid ers viewed them, “they do not care about us, they see us as bags of money, that is all”.

Sultan Muhammad

Nasiri, a native of Af ghanistan is among the newest res idents of Inch. “We weren’t told where we were going,” he admitted.

Prior to this, he had been living in CityWest for five months.

“I was in the

UK for about four days then I came to Ireland. I’m from Afghanistan, we had a bad life there, the situation is really difficult in Afghanistan”.

Facilities in Co Clare are much better for the asylum seekers, he said. “It is good food, a sleeping area, a room, everything is perfect, we’ve no issue, it is better than City West. The place here, they can prepare transport so we will not have an issue. It’s not a long way, if they no amenities here for them, 34 men inside three small bungalows is not doable, they are not in the hotel as of yet. Some of the men have said the place is too rural, they can’t go to the shop, there’s no buses or nothing here for them. We have no problem with people being housed, it is a basic need but having that many men together in a small area is not right, if it was Ukrainian families at least we could try integrate them into the community, it’s very hard to integrate 69 men from God knows how many nations”.

Eithna Hickey referred to an email she received from a senior Clare County Council official on at 2:50pm on Monday afternoon that they were “following up on the matters with the owner of the facility of Magowna House and until such time as the issues were addressed the facility should not be occupied”.

Terefore it came as a complete shock when hours later, the facility was occupied.

“It was very shocking as a community to learn that 34 people had came and we were given absolutely no consultation, the first we heard of it was in the media last week, a big part of this Direct Provision system is that the community be incorporated into the decision and consulted, that didn’t happen unfortunately. We’re a very welcoming, close-knit community and we will welcome anyone with open arms and help them when we’re consulted but we weren’t consulted, it is a very large number of people, at the moment we have 34 but they’ve said up to 69 are coming”.

She said if issues such as public transport, footpath infrastructure and public lighting was dealt with that Magowna House would be capable of accommodating a smaller scale of asylum seekers, provided public consultation is carried out.

Local farmer, Seamie Fitzpatrick agreed that a smaller number could be accommodated if dialogue commenced.

no choice in coming here’ they will cause no harm

prepare transport system so we are happy, without a transport system it is difficult”.

“It’s not crowded, we’ve six men from Afghanistan, we are happy, we know each other, we understand each other, there is no issue, we are so happy, if there was an issue I would tell you but there is none, it is better than City West truly, in City West there was not a good life, it was not good food, no system was good,” Sultan told The Clare Echo He assured the people of Inch that they did not to be fearful towards the asylum seekers. “We are very friendly people, they are really good people, we will live here, we have some good people, 99 percent are good”.

At seventeen years old, Ali Andilahi Maaci is the youngest of the men. He explained, “I have no choice, it is not my choice, here is not good because I have no school, no doctor, no PPS number or no job, I don’t have anything. I am seventeen”.

From Somalia, Ali told The Clare Echo that he was unable to sleep on Monday night as he was fearful regarding their initial reception. “Yesterday we came here but I haven’t been able to sleep but it is good now, the Gardaí have come in. It’s a problem because I do not know what it is like here or where everything is but this is not my choice, if I had to sleep here (points to the ground) I would stay here”.

Ali added, “I don’t have another place, if I had another place to go I would but in one month I will be homeless, in July we would have nothing, no home, no hotel, I would end up sleeping on the ground but now is good”. He is living in one of the three holiday homes on the site, “It is good, the house is good, I can shower”.

Representatives of the Clare Immigration Support Centre visited Magowna House on Tuesday afternoon to assist the men in sorting through their paperwork. They were unable to get past the blockade at Magowna Cross and had to get a Garda escort onto the premises.

“We got a rude awakening to find there’s 69 men coming which frightened the life out of a lot of people when we realised the situation they were coming into, no footpaths, no lighting and as you see here it is a country area and a very scenic route for walking”. He added, “For those people to be sprung on us like that, it’s not where they come from, we’ve no issues whatsoever, if 69 people came from Cork, Kerry or Dublin we would have the same feeling. We gathered €4000 or €5000 one Sunday after mass for the Ukrainians, if the Ukrainians were com- ing into that hotel we would be going down with biscuits and toys for them, we’re very accommodating people in this parish but we’re also very tightly knit whether it is on the hurling field or fundraising, we all stick together and we’re going to stick with this blockade for as long as it takes. We’re upset that at the press of a button from Roderic O’Gorman’s office, all these people were sprung down to a rural country area, people will be afraid to come out of their homes and they shouldn’t be”.