Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I received notice the other day of a situation that has unfolded in Coole, County Westmeath. I was informed by a concerned group of residents on the ground that a newly refurbished apartment block is being used to house international protection applicants. I was supplied with the details of one family who recently moved into this accommodation. This family, from Bangladesh, left their country on 11 October and travelled to the UK. They stayed in the UK for 25 days. After this, they travelled to Belfast. Upon arrival in Belfast airport, they made their way south into the Republic and presented to the IP office here in Dublin and made a claim for asylum. I am told that, on that very day, they were taken by taxi to an apartment block in Coole, which comprised three to five-bedroom apartments. They were told that one of those apartments was theirs. Shockingly, after being dropped off by their taxi, there was no one from international protection nor the building management there to greet them or grant them access to the building.The people who ended up looking after them were the locals who have been protesting the use of that building for housing asylum seekers, truly the actions of the xenophobic far right.

The International Protection Office form specifies that this family's entry to the State was illegal, with the reason for requesting asylum listed as "other". To put it bluntly, this whole scenario is a shambles. Stories like this make people mad; that someone can pop over to Ireland from Bangladesh, via the UK, and be given own-door accommodation within 24 hours. It is stories like this that make people feel the Government is, as a matter of policy, prioritising immigrants over Irish people. If this is not the case, then the Government is doing a rotten job of dispelling that impression. The lack of answers from the Government is fuelling speculation and irritation. May we please have a debate in the House as soon as possible on the Government's immigration policy?