Services `stretched' by asylum-seekers

Social services in Wexford town are stretched to the limit by the number of asylum-seekers housed in the town, the Labour Party deputy leader and local TD, Mr Brendan Howlin, said last night.

Wexford is the nearest large town to Rosslare port, where asylum-seekers - mostly from Romania - have been arriving on almost all of the thrice-weekly sailings from Cherbourg. There are now over 200 asylum-seekers housed in and around Wexford.

Last Thursday, 47 Romanians, including 20 children, were discovered in two containers at the port. They had spent seven frightening days in the dark containers, with little food and only a small amount of water. One man said he paid 100 deutschmarks (£40) per family member for the journey. Last night, all 47 were still sleeping on the floor of a St Vincent de Paul hostel.

Exacerbating the problems for Wexford's social services is the absence of translators in the area, other than English-speaking Romanian refugees. As asylum-seekers themselves, they are not permitted to work, so gardai and social workers have to rely on their goodwill.

One such man, who arrived in a container on July 10th, told The Irish Times last night the recent arrivals all wanted to work, and that the men mostly had a trade.