Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

When the Government took the decision to purchase the convention centre and hotel in Citywest, it said there was going to be a new template for State-owned provision of accommodation for people coming to Ireland to seek international protection. It gives me no pleasure to say it, but the events of the past two weeks show that template is in tatters. The community of Saggart and the surrounding areas of Citywest and Rathcoole are strong, vibrant, diverse communities. People are generous and welcoming and have been going above and beyond to do the right thing during recent times. It is also important to acknowledge that inside Citywest itself there are men seeking international protection and Ukrainian families with children receiving temporary protection. In an adjoining building, homeless families are accommodated by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive. When any of us elected representatives for the constituency talk to people in those communities, they tell us that even before the horrendous events of recent weeks, they felt ignored and let down.

The reason for that is that the promised engagement has not materialised. There have been meetings; there is no dispute about that. We have met the Minister and his engagement team has met local elected representatives and the community. However, the communities on the ground are saying they are not deep and meaningful engagements. Decisions are not being made, investment is not taking place, and reasonable requests by the local community for increased investment, Garda resources, community safety, education, health facilities and supports for people in the community as well as for those in accommodation provided through the Department are simply not forthcoming. In fact, at most of the meetings, key decision-makers who can make decisions on these matters are not even in the room. As a consequence of that, before the savage assault on the young child a number of weeks ago and the nights of serious and unacceptable disorder on the streets of Saggart, the community was telling us they had a problem. Now, they are telling us they are fearful and angry and feel let down. I urge the Minister to hear what we on both the Opposition and Government benches are telling him, to hear what the community is telling him, and change that approach.

The Saggart Village Residents' Association, with which we have been engaging on an ongoing basis, sent a detailed briefing note to all the local TDs recently. It urged us to listen and engage with the concerns of the local community, to do nothing to escalate tension for political gain, to get accurate information into the public domain quickly and to support groups and residents' groups in key ways to resolve the situation. Again, it has made appeals around Garda resources and opening times for Garda stations, key amenities in terms of health facilities, school places and school transport, addressing the very real concerns around issues of community safety and supporting both the host community and those who are living there in IPAS accommodation to get through these issues.

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