Sir, – A woman in Galway who travelled by ambulance recently with her sick child to University Hospital had to walk the nearly two miles home carrying the child on her back because she could not afford the fare for a bus, never mind a taxi.
The woman and her child are asylum-seekers living in the Eglinton Direct Provision Centre, one of more than 30 such centres in the country, many of which earn six- or seven-figure pre-tax profits.
Instead of profiting off the backs of asylum seekers, these centres should be required to provide transportation for their residents, who receive only €19.10 weekly and are not allowed to work or study.
Surely, the Eglinton and other direct provision centres can afford to provide a mini-bus to transport residents into and out of city centres – and to hospitals in cases of emergencies. Galway and Ireland can and must do better. – Yours, etc,
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Galway Anti Racism
Network (GARN),
ALICE McDOWELL,
JOE LOUGHNANE,
JOAN LALLY,
STIOFÁN Ó GAMHNA,
MOIRIN O DONOVAN,
AISLING HARTE,
MARTINA O’BRIEN,
BRIDGET KELLY,
JOANNA CORCORAN,
AOIFE HARTE,
SARAH CLANCY,
HUGO SEALE &
EITHNE HOLMES,
Galway.