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

There are things that I want to ask. The Kerry Dáil representatives had a two hour and 35 minute meeting this week and were told by the management and owners of the premises in question that they were given six days' notice that they were to make a direct provision centre available to the Department. Is that good practice? Is it proper that a direct provision centre would open in Cahersiveen, or anywhere else, without consultation with the people and with local representatives, be they county councillors or Dáil representatives? Is that right? Does the Minister think that is good practice? I do not think it is. There should have been consultation. The people should have been made aware that this was happening. I, as a public representative, was told on a Monday morning that the asylum seekers were coming on the Wednesday. When they came to Kenmare, I was told on a Tuesday that they were coming on the Wednesday. I do not think that is right.

I am seeking confirmation on the record of the Dáil today. Is it true that people were brought from a Travelodge hotel in Dublin, where there was infection, down the country in a bus, stopping at service stations along the way, all the way to Kerry? These are people who had been exposed to the virus in Dublin. Is that true or is it false? If it is true, it is an awful indictment of the Department of Justice and Equality and it is very wrong. The people in Cahersiveen who I have represented since I went into Kerry County Council in 1999, who I have stood with and who have stood with me, are extremely upset over what has happened. They genuinely are. They have nothing in the world against people seeking asylum in this country but they do not agree with the whole idea of people living in a hotel setting. If these people were to be put into houses in different areas, integrated properly and allowed to live in our communities, we would warmly welcome that. However, if a place is not right, one cannot make it right.

I have one very important request to make of the Minister, and I do so on behalf of the people in Kerry. Will he please go on Radio Kerry for a question and answer session? I was on Radio Kerry yesterday and the presenter, Jerry O'Sullivan, said to me that the station has repeatedly asked the Minister to come onto the programme but he has not been available. I am not saying the Minister did or did not say he would go on, because I am not entitled to say that, but I am respectfully asking him to do so now. He owes it to the people in Kerry, and the people in Cahersiveen and the Iveragh Peninsula, to allow them to hear the presenter ask him questions on the record so that he can give clear answers.

I want him to answer several questions here today and I will allow him plenty of time to do so. Did he know about the Travelodge Hotel infection, if that is, in fact, true? Does he think it is right that people should be given six days' notice to open a centre? Does he think it right that public representatives are not consulted and that there is no consultation in the greater area to let people know that a premises is going to be changed from an active hotel to a direct provision centre? If the people are not happy in the centre, will the Minister confirm today that he will close it down? I am asking him that question straight. I have asked it of him before and we all know he said "No" to me. I am asking him on the record of the Dáil if he will confirm today that he is going to close down the centre, either very soon or in the very short term, because it is simply not working?

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