The 10 areas most “under pressure” due to the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers being accommodated are to receive extra resources in health, education and policing, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Speaking to reporters on his way into Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said he would be asking all Ministers to come together and take the 10 districts in the country that have the highest proportion of people from Ukraine and international protection applicants and “put together a special package to help those areas that are under pressure”.
The Taoiseach said the Government now needed to go beyond measures already announced in the Community Recognition Fund – a €50 million cash pile allocated last year for communities hosting large amounts of migrant accommodation.
He said he was “very disappointed” at the scenes on Monday in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, where 17 international protection applicants were accommodated at the Racket Hall hotel but were met with protests on arrival, which saw some scuffles between gardaí and protesters – including when children were walking into the hotel.
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“Ireland is a republic, we’re a democracy and we’re a free country and in a republic and a democracy and a free country people have a right to protest and they have a right to hold views that other people may find objectionable,” Mr Varadkar said.
“However, nobody has the right to engage in violence against other individuals, to damage property or to prevent people getting to their home or their work. That’s anti-democratic, that’s anti-freedom, that’s against the spirit and the values of our nation.”
He said he understands how people in Roscrea feel, acknowledging that “hundreds of people” had been accommodated in the town in recent years, either from Ukraine or through the international protection programme.
“That has put the town under pressure – and I can understand the frustrations that everyday people feel and some of the public reps feel as well,” he said
Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman is to hold meetings with local representatives from Tipperary and Roscrea in particular in the coming days, beginning on Tuesday afternoon.
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