Roscommon - hotel for Refugees in village

[Amber76]

I can understand why the locals are upset as this was arranged very quietly without any local consultation at all. But they have to go somewhere and we have to show compassion - what do others think?

It's fucking Roscommon! The backwards county that opposed same sex marriage. The prevailing attitudes unfortunately don't surprise me.

I mean it's 80 regugees. 80. Not 8000. That's what, 20 families? And it's considered a temporary situation, so not exactly the end of the world for a small village in Ireland. All those 'concerned citizens' would do so much more for their precious 'tourism and business development' if they were openly and publically seen to welcome these poor unfortunate people with open arms. That'd be a heartwarming story, showing the world what a great place Ireland is.

I live in a small town that took in a large number of refugees in a similar setting about 15 years ago. It did not have a negative impact on the town, but the only way our paths really crossed was in school. However, most of those refugees did not want to be in a small West of Ireland town where public transport and entertainment, etc were thin on the ground. Also a hotel setting is not sufficient for long term living especially for families. Eventually they were moved to cities and the centre was closed down. I cannot imagine that, after the initial relief of being somewhere safe, the refugees will be any more excited about Ballaghadereen than any protesting locals are about them. Of course diversity is an asset to any community but there are significant points being made about the lack of adequate facilities in this town for its new (and existing) residents. I cannot help but feel this decision has been made by dublin based agencies who know little about the realities of surviving in a small isolated and under serviced town. I find it hard to survive in my small town even with roots and a job I do not envy anyone coping without those two things.

Ireland is a funny place. A few years ago I was new to a town (details a bit vague as I don't want to out myself) - I went along to a parent baby group (that i saw advertised in local free paper) and was the only Irish person there other than the facilitators. Group was almost all asylum seekers. I was told by the woman running it that i might prefer to go to a different group that was also on the town - as her group was about having somewhere for asylum seekers to go where they could 'feel comfortable'.

I remember how proud Ireland once was of being a welcoming country - once tested though its questionable...

Unfortunately it sounds a normal response to me. Certainly it happens in England. Whitstable - trendy, hipster, DFL, Whitstable - was very clear that their town wasn't suitable. It was suggested in a deluge of letters to the local newspaper that Margate would be much more suitable for the needs of the refugees.