Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too wish the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, well as leader of the Green Party. I have serious concerns about his attitude and behaviour towards communities in which IPAS centres are opening, however. We have now lost three hotels in Tipperary – Racket Hall in Roscrea, Hearns Hotel in Clonmel and Dundrum House Hotel. The Minister refused steadfastly to meet the people of Dundrum, a village of 200 people in which 286 IPAS people were put. The Taoiseach met Andrea Crowe and Nora O’Dwyer, who are two local people, briefly in Clonmel recently. He said he would come back to them with answers. There are no answers. These are decent people. There is no such thing as far right and there is no intimidation or anything else. They want to be listened to and respected as good-living people, instead of decisions being forced on them while the Minister hides and will not meet them. Will the Minister meet a deputation of the people of Dundrum? It is a lovely, famed village. It is a wonderful place with good business people. They are being treated like second-class citizens. They are not being helped. A force of 200 Gardaí was sent down one morning, at a cost of €26,000. It was like the siege of Dundrum. That is not the way to treat ordinary people. I remind the Minister that we live in a democracy.

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