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Showing posts with label Oughterard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oughterard. Show all posts
From Gript the conservative writer and anti-abortion activist Niamh Uí Bhriain poses the question of Why aren’t Direct Provision Centres in Dalkey instead of Oughterard?

It seems that the people of Oughterard in Galway are not for turning. Despite orders from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan that they should ‘step back’ and let the government ride rough-shed over the concerns of the community, they continue to protest against the establishment of a direct provision centre they see as unworkable and inhumane.

This issue was first brought to national attention when 800 people attended a public meeting in Oughterard where Government minister Seán Kyne was booed off the platform, mostly because of local anger that, without any consultation with the locals, the authorities had begun work on refurbishing the Connemara Gateway Hotel to accommodate migrants and asylum seekers.

Two days later 1,500 people marched in a silent protest from the church in the centre of the village to the site at the hotel. That’s practically the entire population of Oughterard, and photos of the march showed families with buggies, young people, older couples, farmers, residents all present. These are ordinary people who want their government to listen to them.Why aren’t Direct Provision Centres in Dalkey instead of Oughterard?

Continue reading @ Gript.

Why Not Dalkey?

An Irish Times report claims that Anti-immigrant activists trying to dominate and exploit local debates on direct provision.


Last March, the organisers of a meeting in Lismore, called to help a Syrian refugee family as they arrived in the picturesque Waterford town, had an uneasy feeling as they looked on the 160 people gathered in the community centre.

“We had an idea it was possible some far-right people might come along maybe. We knew from online chatter that they had got it into their heads that a direct provision centre was going to open in the town,” says Lynne Glasscoe of the Lismore Welcome Project.

But Glasscoe says she was not prepared for the level of organisation they displayed, or how disruptive they would be: “There were eight or 10 of them spread throughout the room. They were very, very well organised and they were live-streaming the whole meeting.”

Frequently, they interrupted, asking questions about direct provision, despite it having been made clear from the off that just one Syrian family was coming, and that no centre was planned.

Continue reading @ the Irish Times.

How The Far-Right Is Exploiting Immigration Concerns In Oughterard

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