Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy David Stanton. It is always nice to see a fellow Cork man in this chamber. I call Senator Hopkins.

Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael)
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I want to raise the matter of plans to open an emergency reception and orientation centre in the Abbeyfield Hotel in Ballaghaderreen. As the Minister of State will be aware, I have had many discussions with both him and Department officials since first becoming aware of plans to open the centre on Thursday, 5 January.

As a community, we, in Ballaghaderreen, understand fully that these refugees who are coming to the centre in Ballaghaderreen have been through the most horrific experiences. We want to reach out and support them in the best way we can. There has been a huge amount of media attention about the reaction of local people in Ballaghaderreen. I want to make it very clear that Ballaghaderreen people will play their part. We will do our fair share in terms of supporting people who have been through very difficult experiences. We had a very lengthy meeting as part of the Ballaghaderreen town team yesterday with Department officials in Roscommon. Arising from that meeting, I have a number of questions.

We want to be reassured that the proper resources and services will be in place to support these people when they come in March. My understanding is that there will be 82 people coming through Greece from Syria. They will have been vetted by Department of Justice and Equality officials. Initially, they will be coming to stay in Balseskin near Dublin Airport, where they will have a full medical assessment and they will begin to have a full needs assessment on their educational needs. They will then come to Ballaghaderreen where they will stay for a maximum period of six months.

It is really important that proper communications channels are opened. At the moment, there is a national task force that brings together all the different agencies. I urge the Minister that the communication channels locally be opened in terms of engagement with local general practitioners, local schools, the Roscommon County Childcare Committee, the education and training board and all the different and necessary agencies and services that will need to be involved in order to support these people. Without doubt, there has been a difficulty here and I ask that there is immediate communication and engagement with local service providers who want to provide support in the best way they can.

When we talk about the centre being opened in the Abbeyfield Hotel, as a community we had high hopes that the hotel would reopen as a functioning hotel. That has not happened. A two year lease has been signed. The facility is vacant and why not support people who need our help at this time? That is very much our view. However, we need to ensure we properly support the community in doing that. My understanding from the meeting yesterday is that the Red Cross will be very involved with assisting the community and co-ordinating that community support because there has been a huge and overwhelming response from people who want to help and to be volunteers. That needs to structured and assistance needs to be provided in terms of that integration piece. From speaking with Department officials yesterday, I know the Red Cross will be very much involved in that process. As early as possible, we want to ensure these people feel welcome and part of our community for however long they may stay.

I want to be reassured by the Minister of State that evidence will be provided to the local community that the proper resources in terms of teaching, interpreters, GP services and all the other allied health professional services required to support these people will be provided from additional resources, not from existing resources. At the moment, services within our area are already at breaking point.We need these assurances and to see evidence locally of communication channels being opened and plans being put in place to support the people who will be coming in the next couple of weeks. I understand from the discussions that took place yesterday that 82 people will be coming in March and that there is capacity at the facility for up to 200. Following my visit to the Monasterevin centre, I am seeking assurances from the Minister of State that if there are teething problems or difficulties in service provision, they will be properly addressed before additional people are brought to the centre. The plan is to place 82 people in the centre initially, with a further 80 to be placed there next month and more to come until full capacity of 200 is reached. It is important that initial challenges such as occurred in Monasterevin be properly addressed before further people are brought to the centre so as to ensure they will be properly supported.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, who cannot be here as she is attending the meeting in Malta of the Justice and Home Affairs Council which is discussing the migrant crisis, I thank the Senator for raising this important matter.

The Senator will be aware that in September 2015 the Government took the decision to establish the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, IRPP, through which 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and conflict would be offered sanctuary in Ireland. Many of those coming to Ireland have lost families and homes. Some 761 persons have come to Ireland so far and 2,000 are due to arrive this year. The intention is that they will be housed temporarily in emergency reception and orientation centres, EROCs, and then move to permanent homes across the country. The EROC recently announced for Ballaghaderreen is the third such centre in the country. The other centres are in the Hazel Hotel in Monasterevin and Clonea Strand in Dungarvan. Therefore, there is experience of the process involved. The principal aim of the Government in establishing such centres is to provide a safe and calm environment in which migrants, mostly young families who have endured unimaginable loss and suffering, can take time to recover physically and mentally, acclimatise themselves to Irish society, learn English and start planning for their future. I note that the Senator has acknowledged the awful situation in which the people concerned have found themselves.

The centres act as hubs for the important range of services that need to be delivered to these particularly vulnerable persons, including medical services, language training, education, cultural orientation and social protection services. Key services such as health and education are provided through mainstream services. The relevant mainstream service providers are engaged in the task of ensuring local services can meet increased demand. An IRPP task force chaired by the Tánaiste offers the framework for planning for future demands on local services. Moreover, as has become standard practice when opening a centre, a local EROC management group, comprising departmental officials and local service providers, is being established to oversee the delivery of required services to residents of the EROC and help to pursue solutions to resource issues that may arise for mainstream service delivery in the area. The EROC management group will include representatives of the HSE, Tusla, the local education and training board and the Department of Social Protection, as well as local community gardaí and IRPP officials.

Community involvement is crucial to the process of enabling refugees to build new lives in Ireland. As a consequence, I will shortly announce the launch of a funding programme to stimulate communities across the country to take action in support of integration. I have been very heartened by the welcome given by the people of Ballaghaderreen towards the refugees and asylum seekers. This goodwill should be harnessed into community action and supported by the Government. I am examining what support is possible to encourage initiatives that will benefit the local community, refugees and asylum seekers. I met the Senator and other local politicians on 11 January to brief them on the opening of the centre. Their support and that of the people of Ballaghaderreen will ensure the refugees will receive a true, warm Irish welcome.

Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael)
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Like the community in Ballaghaderreen, I want to be proactive and constructive in supporting the people concerned. The group to be established, headed by an official from the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and tasked with bringing together all local service providers, will be important in ensuring proper communication and planning. My visit to the Monasterevin centre last week was very productive and helpful. We need to learn from what is happening in the centres in Monasterevin and Dungarvan. There will always be a need to improve. What I learned from my visit to the Monasterevin centre was that we could not make assumptions about what the people concerned needed. It must be based on individual assessment. As the Minister of State rightly said, they will need time to acclimatise, relax and put their lives back together following their horrendous and horrific experiences. For my part, I will work closely with the Minister of State, the Tánaiste and departmental officials to ensure we do our best such that the centre in Ballaghaderreen will be seen as a good example in this regard. Ballaghaderreen is already multicultural and people living there want to be seen as a good example in reaching out and supporting those who need our help.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I am glad that the Senator took up the invitation to visit the centre in Monasterevin and that she found the visit very productive and a good learning experience. Any advice she could give us based on the visit would be welcomed. If other colleagues want to visit other centres in a discreet and respectful manner, they can be facilitated.

The Senator has raised important issues that go beyond the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, including the needs of rural communities and small towns. The Government's rural development action plan provides a comprehensive framework for a series of initiatives to benefit rural Ireland. The opening of the EROC in Ballaghaderreen will create employment opportunities and increase demand for services and goods in the locality. The contractor is aware of the importance of providing jobs within the locality and sourcing goods and services locally, where possible. Bringing new people into Ballaghaderreen will boost the local area. This has been our experience with the other EROCs. However, I would like to examine how we can foster initiatives within the community to benefit locals and refugees. Work is being undertaken within the Department of Justice and Equality to see what is possible.

The IRPP task force, chaired by the Tánaiste, includes representatives of all statutory service providers. It provides the framework for planning to meet future demands and developing solutions where mainstream services are struggling to meet the additional demands following the arrival of refugees. Officials of the Department of Justice and Equality met local representatives on a number of occasions, most recently yesterday. They will continue to engage with them and officials to ensure planning for the arrival of the refugees and asylum seekers will go smoothly. As I said, the asylum seekers will not arrive until early March. As such, there is a good lead-in time for everything to be established. In this regard, we will take on board what we have learned at the other two EROC centres, as well as the direct provision centres.

I again thank the Senator for raising the issue.