'Put the Irish people first' - Hundreds attend anti-asylum seeker protest in Mayo

A member of a group protesting against asylum seekers being placed in a local hotel in Ballina has said they are willing to bring their protest to Dublin.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Twin Trees Hotel in Ballina on Saturday in opposition to the hotel being used for International Protection Applicants (IPAs).

Alan Flannery was among those who addressed the gathering at the Twin Trees Hotel before the gathering walked through Ballina peacefully, finishing at the Market Square before dispersing.

Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday April 22), Mr Flannery said the demonstrators were concerned about the impact on local tourism and services from accommodating an extra 120 people.

When the ongoing shortage of accommodation for asylum seekers was pointed out to him, Mr Flannery said that asylum seekers should be accommodated in ‘State run, state-managed facilities’.

‘Fed up’

At present, over 1,700 asylum seekers in Ireland are registered as homeless.

Under plans brought to Government last week by the Minister for Intergration Roderic O’Gorman, the Government is committed to building out ‘a core’ of accommodation comprising 14,000 beds in State-owned facilities by 2028.

“We [Ireland] take them [IPAs] in based on how many places are in these facilities, we train them, we integrate them, we teach them English, we look after them and we give them genuine care. Then we integrate them into the communities,” said Mr Flannery. 

“We might be able to take 50,000 asylum seekers based on our population if we get State-run facilities up and running, but these are commercial hotels that are just being turned over overnight to make individuals very wealthy.”

Mr Flannery, who is not affiliated with any political party, said that protesters in Ballina would be willing to bring their protest to Dublin if necessary.

Recent demonstrations against the use of the Twin Trees Hotel for asylum seekers were organised by a group called ‘Ballina Says No’.

“If I don’t get any contacts from the Government I am going to try and set up communities around the country, because there’s more communities than Ballina that are fed up with all of this,” Flannery said.

“There needs to be a committee set up in every town and village in the country to be proactive so that, whenever anything like this happens, we are able to air our concerns straight away. I know there is a national march on the 4th of May on the Bank Holiday weekend, so if we have to bring our protest with us up to the capital well then so be it.”

Facilities and services

Marie Loftus, a local business owner and mother-of-two, said that local women had registered with GPs in Castlebar and Sligo due to the lack of GPs in Ballina.

Ms Loftus said that teachers in schools were ‘struggling to get to grips with delivering lesson plans in multiple languages with no additional funding aids’.

_{Marie Loftus pictured at the demonstration against the use of the Twin Trees Hotel for asylum seekers (Pic: Conor McKeown)}

“From most recent government statistics, Georgia, Nigeria and Algeria are all countries deemed safe, yet these are the top three countries that claim asylum in Ireland. This begs the question, are we as towns and villages around the country being taken advantage of?” she told the gathering.

Echoing concerns expressed by local representatives, Ms Loftus said that the local tourism industry was ‘on its knees’ due to the lack of accommodation. 

At present, the Ice House Hotel, Ballina Manor Hotel and Belleek Castle are all fully operational for tourists. The Great National Hotel and Mount Falcon Hotel are 50 percent occupied on an ongoing basis, while the Downhill Inn is fully occupied.

The Ballina area is also served by a number of B&Bs.

“This is not a discussion of race or ethnicity This is a discussion of facts; cold hard facts. No matter how you dress this up we just do not have the facilities or services required to adequately provide for the Irish people, and we certainly do not have the additional resources to provide for a large number of International Protection Applicants,” said Ms Loftus.

“We are asking the Irish government to put the Irish people first. Enough is enough.”