Dáil debates
Thursday, 23 February 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Asylum Seekers
5:05 pm
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I am glad to have the opportunity to raise this issue again. I am asking the Minister quite directly to put additional resources into rural communities that are taking in and seeing increased numbers of arrivals of refugees and international protection families. I have raised this issue with the Minister here and I have raised it with the Taoiseach. I have raised it with the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and at committee, but nothing is happening. That is why I am raising it here again.
The case in point that I have continually raised is Ballaghaderreen, which unfortunately is the most economically poor town in all of County Roscommon.
It suffered immensely throughout the 2008 crash. Lots of businesses were lost and the town has never recovered. If the town was booming we probably would not have these issues and would not seek additional resources, but unfortunately that is not the case.
That said, it is important to say that Ballaghaderreen is a good town. It is full of families that have been there for generations and very good people. However, good people can only take so much. The issue is that from 2017 onwards refugees and families seeking international protection have arrived to the town and we have not seen a single additional support. That is not fair, acceptable or right. It is not fair to the existing community or those arriving there.
Promises were made when Syrian refugees arrived in Ballaghaderreen in 2017. A healthcare professional was promised on site to acknowledge the healthcare needs that were there and the fact the two GPs in town were under pressure. One can only imagine the level of pressure they are under now. They both run waiting lists. That promise was broken and no additional healthcare service was put in place in the town.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we would allow frustration to grow in a town like Ballaghaderreen. It is needless and can be totally avoided if the Government, Department by Department, would co-operate. I do not believe any co-operation is taking place. I would love to know what role the Department of Health and HSE are taking in this regard because towns like Ballaghaderreen are being put under immense pressure and are getting no support.
I spoke to the family resource centre today, which has nothing. Schools outside of the town are being asked to use their resources when additional children arrive due to the fact that the school in the town is full. What is the Department of Education doing? We need cross-departmental action and every Department needs to play its role to ensure that when people come in they, along with the existing community, are supported.
The Government is failing the people of Ballaghaderreen and all rural towns. I mention rural towns in particular because they lost out when the recession hit in 2008. They have lost many services and supports down through the years and more than likely, have not recovered in recent years.
I wrote to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, in December and made five requests, namely, healthcare, additional funding for the family resource centre, additional supports for schools outside of the town, for the community welfare officer to be brought into the health centre where she used to be based to make sure that face-to-face support was available when it came to income support and that there would be supports for clubs and organisations in the town. I accept that is being addressed by way of the community recognition fund, which is welcome, but we need practical supports in the town now. People cannot and will not wait much longer for this.
5:15 pm
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
At the outset, I appreciate that the Deputy has been in contact with me about this. She asked a similar question earlier today. I will endeavour to find additional information rather than giving her the same answer she received today.
Ireland has faced enormous challenges in the past year with the arrival of so many people seeking refuge here. The State and the people of Ireland have responded remarkably and with characteristic Irish resolve in the face of this unprecedented crisis. The State has successfully provided accommodation and supports to over 79,000 additional people in the space of one year. This equates to the population of the city of Galway.
My Department, with the support of my colleagues in the Government, is moving to create new responsive structures and put in place new funding channels to recognise the impact of new arrivals on communities around the country. The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and I, along with other key Ministers and Departments, are engaged with the Department of the Taoiseach to develop and implement new structures that will assist with the provision of information to communities, such as new centres, for example, and to better foster and strengthen positive links between communities and new arrivals.
Since early 2022, in the region of 20,000 new children have enrolled in our schools. Health, social welfare and employment supports have been put in place to assist those seeking refuge. This has been done through intensive efforts across all Departments, co-ordinated from the centre through a Cabinet committee.
In terms of health supports, the HSE, in consultation with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, developed a framework to provide options to deliver additional arrangements to support the delivery of sessional clinics for the beneficiaries of temporary protection, BOTPs, and international protection applicants, IPAs, living in congregated settings. These clinics take the form of temporary sessional clinics delivered by participating GPs in addition to their practice obligations, supported by HSE section 39 health and social care professionals.
I am aware that community healthcare west is putting arrangements in place with a local GP to provide services to Ballaghaderreen. Other community healthcare organisations are exploring opportunities to establish sessional clinics in their area.
In terms of educational supports, all children arriving to Ireland are entitled to enrol in school and receive an education and it is the intention of the State to provide enrolment in education within 12 weeks after arrival. Children do not require a personal public service, PPS, number to be enrolled in education. Tusla education support service educational welfare office staff seconded to the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, resident welfare team work with parents, local schools and centre staff to ensure school places are secured for all children of school-going age who are notified through IPAS.
In regard to the Irish refugee protection programme, programme refugees are initially accommodated in reception orientation centres where various State agencies provide supports including health screening, education for children and adults and childcare. Particular emphasis is placed on the acquisition of English language skills, for children and adults alike, to facilitate integration into the community. Programme refugee families are then moved to communities, with assistance from local authority integration projects, supported by funding under the EU asylum, migration and integration fund.
Local authorities, in accommodating programme refugees, provide a number of measures which seek to ensure families settle into their communities and have access to all the necessary services and supports to successfully integrate into Irish society. This includes being supported by dedicated resettlement support workers and intercultural workers. Interagency working groups are also established, which bring together local and national services and stakeholders to oversee preparation and integration for programme refugees.
Earlier this month, I launched the communities integration fund, CIF, for 2023 where €500,000 will be made available to local community-based projects nationwide to support the integration of migrants. Within the CIF, grants of up to €5,000 will be allocated to successful organisations to support integration activities.
A new funding call under the national integration fund is planned for 2023. The Deputy also knows about the community recognition fund, which I will say no more about for now.
Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I thank the Minister of State for his response. I acknowledge the enormous challenge Ireland faces in respect of the ongoing war in Ukraine, its impact and the role we have to play to support those people. If it was the other way around, we would be in need and seek the same support.
At the same time, there is no excuse for leaving communities in the way they have been left. I welcome what the Minister of State has said about healthcare. It is the first I have been told of that and I have raised the issue for weeks. It is now six years since a promise was made that a health professional would be placed in the emergency reception area, a former hotel in Ballaghaderreen. Nothing has happened since.
I will keep a close eye on this measure to ensure it is delivered because it is badly needed. There are just two GP clinics in the town, both of which are overrun. It is not fair to put that level of pressure on them when the HSE and Department of Health have a role to play. To date, from what I can see in Ballaghaderreen they have played little or no role. It is important that what has been said here is delivered.
It is also important that we look outside the box. I spoke to RHS Home Care, an organisation I have mentioned to the Minister of State. It is the kind of organisation that thinks outside the box and goes above and beyond in the work it does. It goes beyond home care. I understand from speaking to it today it is about to undertake work to create a needs analysis for the town.
That type of work is exactly what needs to be supported by the Department, namely, community initiatives from community organisations that will make a difference. They need to be supported by the Department because they are on the ground and understand the needs of our communities. I commend them on the work they do.
I welcome what has been said about healthcare. It is probably the biggest issue facing the town and has been for some time. I will keep a close eye on that to make sure it is delivered. I welcome the work that is under way.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I look forward to reading the needs analysis when it has been completed. It could be of great use to us. I have travelled around the country a lot in the past 12 months to look at the various community responses to what has been going on. Healthcare comes up pretty much everywhere in terms of a pressing need.
There have been additional resources provided to the local development company in terms of funding for community workers on the Ukraine side of things under SICAP. Some €106,000 this year has been given to Roscommon LEADER partnership specifically to work on the Ukrainian side of things as well. It is also my understanding that last year the local bus service was augmented to some degree as well and it is important to acknowledge that. The community response fora have a role to play in gathering that intelligence and facts on the ground and feeding it up the line. I have tried to bring that back centrally when I visited community response fora around the country. I have done that on a number of occasions in relation to health. Transport connections also tend to be an issue. It is worth noting that under the community recognition fund it is possible to purchase community vehicles as well.
I will give the Deputy some reassurance on the broader side of things. In terms of the need for additional services in areas that have seen large numbers of people who are seeking protection over the last 12 months, I have just come from a Cabinet sub-committee where that issue was discussed very actively regarding education, health and other areas. It is therefore high in our consciousness at the highest level in Government. I wish to give that level of reassurance.