Angry locals give Justice short shrift at stormy public meeting

Many residents of Kildare town were in determined and angry mood on Wednesday night when Department of Justice officials arrived for a public meeting to explain Government plans to house up to 400 asylum-seeking families there. Before the meeting, about 300 people paraded from Magee Barracks, the former Army base in which the Government plans to house the asylum-seekers, to the local CYMS Hall to the accompaniment of cars and lorries hooting their support for the protest.

The residents' anger was fuelled, they said, by difficulty in getting any information on Government intentions with regard to the barracks. The previous month, site works at the barracks led to rumours that asylum-seekers would be housed there, but local people insist they were not told officially until March 29th, despite repeated requests.

They also claim the first time the local community was consulted on the plans was Wednesday last. Mr Ger Conway, of the local Chamber of Commerce, said the townspeople were looking forward to more housing along with significant commercial development of the barracks. The town, which had recently gained Heritage Town status, was on the verge of a bright future, he said, with the Kildare bypass about to remove the relentless N7 traffic.

He added that the townspeople had been promised a share in the funds raised by the development of the barracks and were looking forward to the development of their community.

Ms Joan Conlan, of Kildare Community Services (KCS), a voluntary group to which 52 clubs and associations are affiliated, said locals wanted guarantees that the number of asylum-seekers and Kosovars at the barracks would be capped at 10 per cent of the local population. She also wondered why an Army barracks in Naas, also in Co Kildare, had been left empty while Kildare had two sets of immigrants.

KCS had written to the Minister for Justice requesting assurances that medical, social, educational and recreational supports be put in place before the asylum-seekers arrived. The group also wanted to see extra gardai and security for houses bordering the barracks. It also sought compensation in the form of "an up-front package from Government" for the loss of benefit from the sale of the barracks.

However, while the KCS letter to the Minister for Justice indicated the community was considering accepting at least 150 asylum-seekers, the mood had soured by the time Wednesday's meeting opened in the CYMS hall.

As Ms Bernice O'Neill of the Department of Justice said the State was obliged to provide food and shelter to asylum-seekers and was attempting to do this with the aid of an inital allocation of 200 to Kildare town, there were hoots of derision.

"What the Minister says in response to the representations from your local representatives is that he will accommodate 200 in Kildare immediately, rising to 300 and he will not consider rising beyond that unless there is a further emergency," Ms O'Neill explained, which provoked a further round of shouting.

She added that two-and-a-half acres of the 60-acre barracks site were to be allocated to the asylum-seekers. Some 100 mobile homes would be provided for them. In response to questions, she said she would have no problem giving a guarantee in writing on the size of the site.

Asked who would oversee the guarantee, she said she was "speaking here tonight on the authority of the Minister for Justice".

A local GP, Dr Michael Collins, who maintained he wanted to "remove any sensationalism that people might have in relation to infectious diseases" nonetheless said, "there are certain conditions that I would be concerned about, such as TB and hepatitis C."

Dr Collins, who called for information on a vaccination programme and health screening, said he was speaking "on behalf of the majority of GPs in Kildare town." He was applauded at length by the crowd.

He said that while he supported "any person's human rights", including the right to turn down health screening, "there are medical interventions that have been put in place to help limit this problem (the spread of TB and hepatitis C)."

He asked what vaccination programmes would be put in place, as he maintained that some "conditions are going to be quite prevalent as a lot of these people will come from relatively high-risk areas."

A local primary school principal, Mr Shay Nolan, said that additional facilities promised to help his school with the education of the Kosovan children had not been delivered.

A number of parents then complained that places in the school could be given to the asylum-seekers, leaving them without places for their children.

A Fine Gael councillor, Ms Fionnuala Dukes, was shouted down when she tried to say that the asylum-seekers should be welcomed and additional services provided for them.