Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The people of Borrisokane bucked a trend in 2019 when they took in and welcomed 96 international protection applicants in the Riverside apartments, which included 27 primary school children. They now have status but are actually being evicted. The Minister's Department, in November 2019, sent and signed an agreement with them and with the liaison committee in Borrisokane stating that once they had HAP, they could stay in the apartments. The Government is now reneging on this.

I attended a large protest meeting last Friday night. In fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, also was in attendance. The people of Borrisokane, uniquely in this country and unlike anywhere else, are going to fight to keep the 96 new arrivals in their town. That is a good story and one that is unique. However, we have a situation in which they are being evicted. The reality is that this is going to create a dangerous precedent. What it is really saying is that the commercialisation of human suffering and the promotion of greed will take precedent because the Government will support taking out these applicants, who have status, to put in new applicants, as there is greater profit in it than actually allowing them to use HAP. When will this policy be reversed to ensure that integration means integration permanently and not just while it is profitable?

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