Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about Cahersiveen to the Minister and Minister of State because the first I knew of this, like all the other elected representatives, was on the Monday before the asylum seekers came to Cahersiveen. The Government did open this direct provision centre in Cahersiveen. When it was proved wrong in many other parts of the country last year, it admitted it was wrong and that there should be proper consultation before that happened in any other part of the country. It did this without proper consultation. We have come to know that the HSE, which is responsible for health, did not approve of bringing the refugees to Cahersiveen but nevertheless the Government brought these unfortunate people from a hotel in Dublin where there had been cases of coronavirus. People were not tested before they came to Cahersiveen. It is now believed that at least 24 people, between refugees and people working at the centre, have presented with the virus. Some of the workers have also contracted the virus. For many days when people presented with the virus in the centre, more were in and out of the centre and around the town.

At that stage, locals started to worry about their own health and avoided the town of Cahersiveen. Many of them are still doing so because they want to protect their own health. They know that the virus has been, or still is, in the hotel. They are not sure if it is still there or not. We have seen the refugees hanging out of windows so they can be seen through a locked gate.

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