Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I got letters about the site in Rathdowney in south Laois. The first I heard about it was when I saw it in one of the local newspapers. As a local Deputy, as soon as I had bought the paper, questions were coming into my office about it. It puts us in an awful position. I had to say to people straight up that I had only just learned about it having read about it in the local paper. While the OPW is not the sole decision maker in this and I understand that the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has a role, there has to be some consultation at local level. Let me be clear; we have to try to help people who are genuinely fleeing war. I hope this war will be over as soon as possible. That is the hope of every sane person on the planet. There is no argument about that. There is capacity in the schools in Rathdowney but there are issues with some of the locations that have been chosen to date. I understand that, in ensuring quick response, perfection can sometimes be the enemy of progress. However, while I will not get into particular areas, some of the locations that have been chosen to date completely lacked the capacity needed and were not suitable for a whole plethora of reasons, rather than just one. There are six councillors in that district and, as far as I know, none of them were consulted. As a local Deputy, I had no answer for people. Nobody thought to lift the phone to us to tell us that such a field was bought and that such a thing was going to be done and to tell us the plan. Nobody sought an opinion or anything. There is a Government Minister of State in the constituency. I do not know if he knew.