Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise issues in relation to Thornton Hall in County Dublin and the proposal to use that for emergency tents for international protection applicants. Yesterday I was briefed along with Oireachtas Members by the community engagement team from the Department of integration and neither the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, nor the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, thought it wise to sit down with their colleagues to brief them at the same time. I was shocked to hear what is to happen to the site. The Department has leased 30 acres from the Department of Justice for the provision of tented accommodation on this site. It will be used for single men only. Men will be housed in shared tents on five acres of the 30-acre facility at this time but I would suspect 750 occupants on that 500-acre portion of land. It is a 30-acre site and the Senators can work the figures out for themselves. However, the number of those who will reside remains unclarified but in a meeting, we were told that there are over 30,000 people in the IPAS system. Thornton Hall is only one of the six State-owned sites currently being assessed for similar-style emergency tented accommodation with a view to long-term accommodation on these sites in due course. The contract was signed the day before that meeting. It was signed on Monday. Surely the Department should know that engagement with Oireachtas Members and local representatives should happen before any contracts are signed. This is typical of the Department. It is wrong. This is not the way to do business. How does the Government expect local leaders and community leaders to bring people with them with this shoddy approach to housing refugees? There is no transportation out of that site. To tell the truth, it is disgraceful. We will have to have that debate here. The Minister must come in, discuss his long-term plan and tell us where those six sites are. It is simply not good enough.