Seamus “Banty” McEnaney GAA boss received €50 million to house Irish homeless and asylum seekers
Seamus“Banty”McEnaneyGAABossReceived€50millionToHouseIrishoHmelessAndAsylumSeekers
".. Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney And 14 Family Members all have become "Instant Homeless Industry Multi Millionaires....."
Emergency housing: How a small network of companies is making millions from a ballooning industry
Please read these full stories below on this www.inltv.co.uk webpage
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, who raised the issue of companies running emergency accommodation in the Dáil this week
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Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney And 14 Family Members Paid Over €130m To House Refugees
"It seems to be that the top earner has been Irish CAA Manager Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney and their families .... who all have become "Instant Homeless Industry Multi Millionaires....."
The Journal attempted to contact Mallon, Holbrook and Turner for comment via the email address of a company directed by Turner this week, but no comment was received by the time of publication.
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy also told the Dáil this week that she had asked how the government decides to award contracts to companies like those above, and was informed that “the only real issue that is considered is if they are tax-compliant”.
She told The Journal that the State should be doing more to learn about such companies before they are awarded contracts, particularly as they are dealing with vulnerable members of society.
“We’re in an almost constant emergency situation in relation to the provision of accommodation, so a lot of those normal checks and balances are absent,” she said.
“Even if these public elements are are absent, you would be expecting that the relevant authorities would pay more attention to doing things like background checks on companies – more than tax-compliance, which I would regard as totally inadequate.
“I completely accept we’re in an emergency; but even in emergency situations, it’s really important that you don’t abandon the normal checks and balances, even if they’re done in a different way.”
Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney And 14 Family Members Rake In Over €130 Million To House Refugees
Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney
Companies owned by GAA manager and businessman Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney and 14 other members of his family have been paid more than €130m by the State to house asylum seekers and refugees since 2020, writes Valerie Hanley.
Firms controlled by Mr McEnaney's family received more than €50m in payments between April 2022 and September 2023.
This is on top of over €83m paid to a company belonging to Mr McEnaney himself since 2020, when the procurement of asylum accommodation was taken over by the Department of Integration.
Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney
The hotelier and former Monaghan, Meath and Wexford football manager was also among the highest earners from the direct provision system under the Department of Justice for several years up to 2020.
But providing accommodation for people seeking international protection or fleeing conflict has really become a family affair since 2022.
Mr McEnaney’s own company, Brimwood Unlimited Company, of which he is listed as director along with his daughters Laura and Sarah, was paid €83,128,338 between January 2020 and last September – the latest period for which the Department of Integration has released figures.
No fewer than 13 companies belonging to Mr McEnaney's family members have secured lucrative State contracts for such accommodation since April 2022, shortly after the war broke out in Ukraine.
Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney
Corduff JG Enterprises Limited began receiving payments from the department in May 2022, and had received €9,171,723 by last September.
Mr McEnaney’s son Gavin is its sole director and shareholder.
Between April 2022 and last September, Longfield Ventures Limited was paid €7,639,141. It is jointly owned and directed by Mr McEnaney’s son John and his nephew Gary McEnaney.
And Rosscorp Limited, whose sole director and shareholder is listed as Mr McEnaney’s nephew Conor, was paid €4,477,690 from the department between April 2022 and September 2023.
Conor is also co-director and co-shareholder of Rossblue Management Limited, along with his brother Christopher. That company was paid €5,380,434.00 in the same 18-month period.
Seven of these firms received their first payment between April and June 2022, with one receiving its first payment in the final three months of the same year.
A further four companies received their first payments in 2023.
Mr McEnaney's own company, Brimwood Unlimited Company, of which he is listed as director along with his daughters Laura and Sarah, was paid €83,128,338 between January 2020 and last September - the latest period for which the Department of Integration has released figures.
Oakgate Limited, set up in April 2022 with Mr McEnaney's sisters Bernadette Walsh and Margaret McCarville listed as directors, was paid €9,771,896 between then and last September.
Margaret McCarville is listed as the 100% shareholder - as she is with JMA Ventures Limited, which was paid €7,527,734 in the same 18-month period.
That company was set up in August 2021 and lists Ms McCarville as the sole director.
Corduff JG Enterprises Limited began receiving payments from the department in May 2022, and had received €9,171,723 by last September.
Mr McEnaney's son Gavin is its sole director and shareholder.
Between April 2022 and last September, Longfield Ventures Limited was paid €7,639,141. It is jointly owned and directed by Mr McEnaney's son John and his nephew Gary McEnaney.
And Rosscorp Limited, whose sole director and shareholder is listed as Mr McEnaney's nephew Conor, was paid €4,477,690 from the department between April 2022 and September 2023.
Conor is also co-director and co-shareholder of Rossblue Management Limited, along with his brother Christopher. That company was paid €5,380,434.00 in the same 18-month period.
Copperwhistle Limited was paid €1,610,300.00 between April 2022 and September 2023. Its directors are Frank McEnaney, Banty's brother, along with Frank's wife Mary and his son Cahal. Mary is listed as 1,00% shareholder.
Foxstrand Limited was established in July 2022 and received its first payment three months later. It had been paid €769,080 by last September. Its 50/50 shareholders and co-directors are listed as Mr McEnaney's nephews, Dylan and Kian McEnaney.
Of the four companies whose first payments came in 2023, Highgrove Property Limited has received the most money so far, according to available figures.
It was paid €3,034,013 in the first nine months of last year. It is a quarter owned by Mr McEnaney's son John, a quarter by his nephew Gary, and half by Orla Marron, all of whom are listed as directors.
Brother Baghin Limited, established in July 2021 and jointly owned and directed by John and Gary McEnaney, was paid €2,772,960 between January and September of last year.
Fernboro Limited, which has the same ownership and directorship and was set up in March 2021, was paid €981,050 in the same period.
And Blueburn Limited, owned and directed by Christopher McEnaney according to paperwork on Vision- Net, was paid €1,042,020 over the same nine months.
In total, the 13 companies in which Séamus McEnaney and 14 other family members are involved have been paid €106,918,379 in taxpayers' money since the beginning of 2022 for what the department lists as 'Provision of accommodation and services' or 'Ukraine Accommodation and/or Related Costs'.
The Department of Integration paid more than €1.3bn in the first nine months of last year to companies providing accommodation for International Protection Applicants (IPAs) and refugees from Ukraine.
Séamus McEnaney's Brimwood was the second-highest-paid company, receiving a total of €28,863,543 from the State between January and September 2023.
In 2018, a hotel linked to Mr McEnaney made a massive €2.58m settlement to the taxman. The payment by the Westenra Arms Hotel Limited was the single largest settlement in a list of tax defaulters for the third quarter of that year.
The company behind the hotel is owned by another firm, Corvalley Enterprises, which in turn was owned by shareholders including Mr McEnaney, other members of his family, and Padraig Hegarty.
The settlement, made on foot of a Revenue investigation, was for the under-declaration of PAYE, PRSI, USC and VAT.
The huge sums of money paid by the State to private accommodation providers revealed in the Irish Mail on Sunday in recent weeks have sparked a planned investigation by the Dáil spending watchdog into the payments, which have enabled seven people to amass vast fortunes out of the deepening immigration crisis.
Earlier this month the Irish Mail on Sunday also revealed that half of the companies earning the most lucrative State contracts to provide accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers are fully owned or majority owned by entities based abroad, including in tax havens such as the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and the British Virgin Islands. Public Accounts Committee (PAC)member and Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon said the latest revelations underline the need to end the State's reliance on private emergency accommodation.
In a stark criticism of his own Government, the Mayo TD said it is time the Coalition "got real" and pushed ahead with plans for Statebuilt reception centres for asylum seekers as quickly as possible.
Mr Dillon said: "There is that elephant in the room here - How sustainable is this in the long run in relation to exchequer funding? It's not, I think, and the sooner we can get the new reception centres built the better.
"It's really important we have a clear focus and a path on how we transition from using these companies which have now mushroomed up overnight in all parts of Ireland.
"In many senses, those who have been validated early in the process have expanded into multiple sites. Who is authorising this and who is scrutinising it?"
While Mr Dillon stressed the Government has a responsibility to provide "safe shelter" for genuine asylum seekers and refugees, he said: "There comes a point where the Government needs to get real with what they are facing and circle the wagons in relation to how much further they intend to go."
He said: "There is the commercial element to subsume other hotels and properties into the same type of accommodation model, not for tourism or the local economy, but more focused on capitalising on the immediate accommodation crisis."
PAC chair Brian Stanley said the lack of "clear procurement rules and controls' relating to lucrative State contracts to accommodation providers 'is an invitation to abuse".
BRIAN STANLEY SAID THE LACK OF "CLEAR PROCUREMENT RULES AND CONTROLS' RELATING TO LUCRATIVE STATE CONTRACTS TO ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS 'IS AN INVITATION TO ABUSE". PIC: SAM BOAL/ROLLINGNEWS.IE
He said: "We need to determine the level of payments and who receives them. There are serious and legitimate questions; are a small elite creaming off huge profits at the expense of the taxpayer? There is genuine concern over the role of middlemen and fixers. What are the payment structures and what controls exist?"
The Sinn Féin TD added: "An entire class of fixers appear to have evolved. We need to know how they operate, are there controls and are the taxpayers and refugees protected. There is a worrying looseness. We need to move on from the current ad-hoc system.
"It is an invitation to abuse."
An attempt was made by the paper to contact Séamus McEnaney and members of his extended family involved in the asylum accommodation business.
- Well Funded Private Group Supported by Donald Trump and other Millionaires and Billionaires Are Preparing A Private Prosecution Against USA President Joe Biden, USA Secretary Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin for Various War Crimes Which Includes Conspiracy to Murder and injure over 70,000 innocent Palestinian Women and Children in Gaza and Westbank In Palestine
Seamus “Banty” McEnaney GAA boss
Five Refugee Housing Firms Are Paid €100m
Revealed: five firms paid more than €100m for asylum seeker accommodation
Sinn Féin support hits lowest level in three years, falling by six points, poll shows
Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll shows Sinn Féin support hits lowest level in three years, falling by six points
Emergency housing: How a small network of companies is making millions from a ballooning industry
https://www.thejournal.ie/
One TD has called for more oversight into the provision of emergency housing.
LAST YEAR, BEFORE fire and smoke damaged the seven-bedroom residence known as Honeywood in Kildare, the property and its adjoining land were described by one estate agent in especially glowing terms.
“Undoubtedly this is one of the finest infill residential development opportunities to come on the market in Leixlip in recent times, offering the superb opportunity to create a high-class residential development for either the owner-occupier or to acquire a substantial residence on a mature superbly located large site,” a sale listing read.
The property was bought for over €1 million last May by a company called Faldecs Limited, which had incorporated less than a year beforehand in October 2022.
The house appears to have remained vacant until it was set alight in a suspected arson attack on 7 February, after what Gardaí say was “a significant volume of misinformation” and claims it would house International Protection (IP) applicants.
Faldecs Limited may be a new company, but it had already changed directors by the time it bought Honeywood last year; in March 2023, developer Ronan Mallon – the company’s sole director when Faldecs was incorporated – resigned and was replaced by Ronan Holbrook.
Company records show how Holbrook and Mallon’s names interweave across a string of companies with property and business interests across the country.
Between them, they are listed as current directors of more than 50 companies, which include companies that have been paid more than €20 million between them in public funds for providing accommodation to Ukrainian arrivals and IP applicants in the past two years.
The activities of these companies shine a light on the multi-billion euro industry that’s sprung up around housing refugees in Ireland, and how businesses here are making vast sums of money out of the ongoing crisis.
The companies connected to Mallon and Holbrook are, at the same time, providing accommodation to refugees and asylum seekers on behalf of the Government during an emergency shortage of places for them to stay, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by those companies or their directors.
A spokesperson for the Department of Integration said that the increase in expenditure by the Government on accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers since 2019 was due to a significant increase in numbers of new arrivals.
“In 2019, less than 7,000 people were in State provided accommodation for asylum seekers,” a statement said.
“By the end of 2023 over 75,000 people were in State provided accommodation, with the general breakdown as one third international protection applicants and two thirds were Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection.”
Public spending skyrockets
With tens of thousands of people now seeking refuge in Ireland every year, increasing amounts of public money have been spent on finding somewhere for them to sleep.
The cost of doing so has skyrocketed since the pandemic, with Government spending on accommodation now dwarfing the total value of payments in the last years of last decade.
Figures from the Department of Justice (which was then tasked with housing of IP applicants) show that it spent just over €130 million on what it described as ‘asylum seeker accommodation’ in 2019, when 4,781 people arrived in Ireland seeking international protection.
By 2022, the spend on accommodation had almost doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, with data from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (which has since taken over from the Department of Justice) showing that €236 million was spent finding beds for new arrivals that year.
One reason for the significant increase was the fact that individual providers are being paid more than they were in 2019 for their services.
For example, Mosney Holidays plc, which operates a direct provision centre for hundreds of asylum seekers in Co Meath, was paid more than €20 million last year, compared to €9.9 million in 2019.
Next Week & Co Ltd, the company that runs the Abbeyfield Hotel at Ballaghaderreen in Co Roscommon where a number of asylum seekers live, was paid almost €7 million last year for IP accommodation, compared to €4.9 million five years ago.
And Millstreet Equestrian Services, which provides accommodation for hundreds of asylum seekers in Cork and Waterford, likewise made over €12 million last year, compared to €11 million in 2019.
It is possible that these companies were paid more because they hosted more refugees last year compared to 2019, or because the price of accommodation increased.
The Journal contacted Mosney Holidays plc (via the Mosney Holiday Centre), Next Week and Co Ltd and Millstreet Equestrian Services (via Millstreet Green Glens) via email to clarify whether this was the case earlier this week, but no response was received by the time of publication.
Tents belonging to asylum seekers outside the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin
More tourism providers are getting on board too.
Last week, Fáilte Ireland said that 12% of registered tourism accommodation in Ireland has been withdrawn for humanitarian reasons.
The body estimated that this was costing the Irish economy between €750 million and €1.1 billion, including €200 million in lost tax revenue, (though these figures have not been independently verified by The Journal).
One major factor has been the arrival of almost 70,000 Ukrainians following the invasion of their homeland by Russia, particularly at a time when tourism providers are also telling Fáilte Ireland that they are under pressure from rising costs.
Despite the arrival of a record 13,651 IP applicants in 2022, Government spending on IP accommodation was around €136 million that year (the last full year for which figures are available), roughly the same as it was in 2019.
However, an extra €99 million was spent housing Ukrainian refugees on top of that.
As more and more Ukrainians continued to arrive in 2023, costs grew further.
The most up-to-date figures only show what was spent during the first three quarters of last year, but already reveal that costs for 2023 have far outstripped previous years.
According to Government data, more than €1 billion was spent housing new arrivals between January and September last year, the overwhelming majority of it – €870 million – going towards ‘Ukraine accommodation and/or related costs’.
The data also shows how the sector itself has ballooned, with ever more companies being paid increasing amounts of money for their services.
The 2019 figures from the Department of Justice show that just over 60 companies were contracted by the Government for IP accommodation, with only two earning more than €10 million – East Coast Catering and Mill Street Equestrian, who were paid €11 million each.
But in the first three quarters of 2023 alone, the Department of Integration contracted more than 800 companies, five of whom (Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, Brimwood Limited, Travel Lodge Hotels, Holiday Inn Dublin Airport and Guestford Limited) were paid more than €100 million in the first six months of the year alone.
New companies
Although the vast majority of companies given public money last year were already involved in the hospitality industry – like established hotel chains and B&Bs – a handful were new companies or are companies that have recently been taken over by directors who had no prior background in the sector.
There has been speculation that some of these companies are operated by beneficial owners – individuals who reap the benefits of owning a companies despite the company ownership officially being in someone else’s name.
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy raised the issue in the Dáil this week, when she questioned how the same group of individuals were able to buy a number of buildings, including some earmarked as accommodation for homeless people and asylum seekers.
“The former pub, the Shipwright in Ringsend, was intended for use by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to house 16 families [...],” she told the Dáil.
“The ownership of the Shipwright pub, the building on Sherrard Street and Honeywood House in Leixlip are all linked.
“The same group of people in different capacities are involved in many buildings. Some of those who are purported to own these buildings are far from wealthy and there are legitimate questions about where the money is coming from.”
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, who raised the issue of companies running emergency accommodation in the Dáil this week
Ronan Mallon and Ronan Holbrook have at different stages been involved in companies that have earned millions from providing accommodation to Ukrainians and asylum seekers.
Among them were Me Libérer Limited, a company that currently lists Holbrook – the director of Faldecs Limited, which owns Honeywood – as its sole director and only shareholder.
The company was only founded in June 2022 and, as a new company, it is yet to file accounts so the extent of its assets is not publicly known.
However, it paid €1.6 million for a stately home known as Ryevale House (also near Leixlip) the same year it was founded. It was given a contract to house 80 IP applicants at Ryevale House from March 2023.
The contract was awarded despite Kildare County Council saying the same month that Ryevale House was not exempt from having to seek planning permission to change its use into accommodation for asylum seekers.
The council subsequently investigated the works carried out at the property – which is a protected structure – and issued a warning letter in May last year, saying that measures should be taken to address “alleged unauthorised use of the structure”.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman told the Dáil on 9 May last year that pending the outcome of the dispute, his Department had decided to use Ryevale House because of “the pressure on the State accommodation system” for IP applicants.
Figures from his Department show that almost €2 million was paid by the Government for the use of Ryevale between May and September 2023, all of it for housing IP applicants.
The planning notice against Ryevale House was not the last time that a property linked to one of Holbrook’s companies was subject to an enforcement notice by Kildare County Council either.
On 1 February, the local authority issued a notice, seen by The Journal, alleging that there may have been an intention to use Honeywood – which was set alight a week later after what Gardaí described as “misinformation” about the property – as a premises to accommodate IP applicants. There is no suggestion that Holbrook was involved in the attack.
Kildare County Council claimed that this use may have constituted an unauthorised development that would require planning permission (though there is no formal indication – such as a planning application – that shows that Honeywood was set to house IP applicants).
The Department of Integration said after the fire that it had not contracted Faldecs Limited to use the property to house asylum applicants before it burned.
Like Faldecs, Me Libérer lists developer Ronan Mallon as a previous director, a position he held for just two months between February and April 2023, during which the company acquired a mortgage from investor Glenigo Capital.
Mallon took over as director from Holbrook, before being replaced by him days after details of the mortgage were logged with the Companies Record Office.
Records also show that Faldecs Limited’s sole shareholder at the time of its last annual return in 2023 was a company called Jinus Limited, whose sole director was listed last month as Holbrook (and whose sole shareholder, in turn, was named as Mallon).
Other companies have similar arrangements involving the pair, including those which were not set up to provide accommodation for refugees or asylum seekers.
Gris Developments Limited was set up in February 2023, and currently lists Mallon as its sole director after he replaced Holbrook – who was the company’s sole shareholder when it filed its most recent annual return – last August.
It owns the former Shipwright pub in Ringsend which caught fire on New Year’s Eve in similar circumstances to Honeywood: Gardaí are investigating the fire as an arson attack, and the pub was the subject of protests and misinformation before it was set alight. There is no suggestion that Mallon or Holbrook were involved in this attack.
The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive had confirmed to The Journal before the fire that it was seeking to use the building as emergency accommodation for families who presented as homeless.
The former Shipwright pub in Ringsend after it was damaged in a suspected arson attack
Emergency accommodation
But these are not the only companies which Mallon and Holbrook have been involved in the provision of emergency accommodation.
Holbrook is also named as the current director of Rupopado Limited, the operator of the Eagle Heights B&B in Enniscrone in Sligo, which received almost €1.2 million for housing IP applicants during the first nine months of 2023.
The company, which incorporated in July 2022, had listed Mallon as a director between October 2022 and March 2023, during which it filed its first annual return, though as a new company it has yet to file accounts showing its turnover or any profit or loss.
An annual return filed in January 2023 named Jinus Limited – the company which is also the owner of Faldecs Limited, the owner of Honeywood – as its sole shareholder.
Mallon is named as the sole director of several companies which have never listed Holbrook as a director, and which have been paid more than €20 million since 2022.
They include Auburn Ventures Limited, the owner of the Kilkenny Inn Hotel which appointed Mallon as its sole director in February 2023; the company reported a loss of €502,726 up to December 2022 – two months prior to Mallon’s appointment – before being paid €2.9 million by the Government last year.
Its primary sole shareholder is Baroyle Limited, another company directed by Mallon which is in turn owned by Turphy Enterprises Limited, another Mallon-directed company in which he is the primary shareholder.
Mallon is also the director of Country Manor Hotels Limited, which runs the Celbridge Manor Hotel in Kildare.
Its most recent accounts, for the year up to 31 December 2021, show it had net liabilities of almost €2 million before Mallon was subsequently appointed its sole director four months later in April 2022.
The company was paid €3 million by the Department for IP accommodation that year, before receiving another €7.8 million in the first nine months of 2023.
Its only shareholder is the holding company Coldec Investments Limited, directed by Mallon who is its only shareholder.
Mallon is likewise the only named director of Sicuro Holdings Limited, which runs Harry’s Hotel in Kinnegad in Co Westmeath where the housing of asylum seekers was subject to a local protest in the summer of 2022.
Company accounts show that Sicuro Holdings posted a net loss of €288,013 at the end of 2021, before Mallon was appointed to the company in June 2022.
Months later, in October 2022, the company received two payments totaling more than €1.5 million were made to the company by the Department of Integration for the provision of IP accommodation. It reported a net profit of €823,690 that December.
Sicuro Holdings was then paid a further €3.8 million in the first nine months of 2023, more than €3.5 million of it for providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.
Its only shareholder is Coldec Holdings Limited, another holding company directed by Mallon, who is also that company’s only shareholder.
And last year, Mallon also took over as the director of Laupteen Limited, the owner of the My Place hostel on Gardiner Street in Central Dublin, in May last year.
The company had been paid more than €1.5 million by the Department since the start of 2022 before Mallon was appointed, after which it made a further €372,000 up until September 2023.
Laupteen also has contracts with Dublin City Council for the provision of homeless accommodation, though it is not known how much these are worth.
Other companies
Ronan Holbrook, meanwhile, is named as a director of companies with links to other new companies that have separately signed contracts with the Department for the provision of IP accommodation and which received millions from the Government last year.
They include Amarilla Developments Ltd, owner of the former Burkes of Ballycastle tourist accommodation in north Co Mayo.
Amarilla only incorporated in February last year and lists an agreement with another company, DHMG Properties Limited, which signed a contract with the Department of Integration to provide IP accommodation on 9 January this year.
Holbrook is named as the company’s sole shareholder in an annual return filed in August last year.
Company records also show that Rio Azul Developments Limited, another company of which Holbrook is the sole director, has an arrangement with yet another company called DHMG Properties – its primary shareholder – which is listed as owning three houses on Upper Drumcondra Road in Dublin.
Figures from the Department of Integration state that DHMG Properties, which incorporated in June 2022, was paid over €4.2 million for providing IP accommodation in the first nine months of 2023.
It has never listed Mallon or Holbrook as a director, though its sole director and shareholder – Daire Turner – is named as the secretary of several companies where the pair currently or used to serve as directors.
The Journal attempted to contact Mallon, Holbrook and Turner for comment via the email address of a company directed by Turner this week, but no comment was received by the time of publication.
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy also told the Dáil this week that she had asked how the government decides to award contracts to companies like those above, and was informed that “the only real issue that is considered is if they are tax-compliant”.
She told The Journal that the State should be doing more to learn about such companies before they are awarded contracts, particularly as they are dealing with vulnerable members of society.
“We’re in an almost constant emergency situation in relation to the provision of accommodation, so a lot of those normal checks and balances are absent,” she said.
“Even if these public elements are are absent, you would be expecting that the relevant authorities would pay more attention to doing things like background checks on companies – more than tax-compliance, which I would regard as totally inadequate.
“I completely accept we’re in an emergency; but even in emergency situations, it’s really important that you don’t abandon the normal checks and balances, even if they’re done in a different way.”
Louth hotel to house international protection applicants
Leitrim council issues proceedings over plan to house asylum seekers in hotel – The Irish Times
Hotel owner has brought separate but related case over council’s decision to invalidate its building compliance certificate
Abbey Manor Hotel, Leitrim: Last November, a large group of Dromahair locals held protests in the village over concerns that asylum seekers were to be accommodated at the hotel
Government to crack down on people seeking asylum for 'economic reasons'
Seamus “Banty” McEnaney ex-GAA Boss Now Known As The Irish Vulnerable Homeless and Asylum King Accommodation King
Over the last few years Seamus “Banty” McEnaney GAA boss received €50 million from the Irish Government and the Dublin City Council and to house Irish homeless and asylum seekers and is become known as The Irish Vulnerable Homeless and Asylum King Accommodation King
State breaches rights over homelessness, poverty - IHREC
In Drumcondra, Some Question Whether New Homeless Hostel Should Be Privately Run
In Drumcondra, some question whether a homeless hostel that opened earlier this month should be run by a private company rather than a charity.
Seamus “Banty” McEnaney ex-GAA Boss controlled company Brimwood Ltd
The contract with Brimwood Limited in Drumcondra is to accommodate 40 people at a time for five years, according to an April report from DRHE to councillors.
Photos of the facility show bunk beds close together. According to the DRHE report, the Gardaí have visited the facility and it complies with social-distancing rules.
Horner, the Green Party councillor, says “we need to make sure that the rights and health of people using the facilities are respected”.
Homeless services should be planned properly and “standards of care set and enforced to support people to effectively exit homelessness rather than simply being removed from the streets”, she says.
“This will take significant investment from central government,” she said.
Management at the hostel didn’t respond to a phone call and two emails, asking if they were available to talk.
According to company records, Brimwood Ltd is owned by Laura McEnaney, a teacher and Monaghan Ladies footballer.
She’s the daughter of Seamus (Banty) McEnaney, who manages the Monaghan senior football team. It’s unclear whether McEnaney is involved in the new homeless hostel in Drumcondra.
State breaches rights over homelessness, poverty - IHREC
https://www.rte.ie/news/
Irish State violates rights by 'failure' to address homelessness, poverty - IHREC
Crises in housing, homelessness and extreme poverty are violating economic, social and cultural rights in Ireland, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said.
In its fourth periodic review, which will be submitted to the United Nations, the IHREC has said a paradigm shift is needed in the State's approach to economic, social and cultural rights if it is to eradicate poverty, build up public service provision, and better respond to the needs of structurally vulnerable communities.
The State must move away from viewing rights as charitable, discretionary and commodities, and progress a rights-based model, the IHREC added.
It will tell the UN, which will assess Ireland's compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, that it is concerned by the State's "continuing failure to address the root causes of the enduring crises in health, housing, poverty and the cost of living".
The State has "responded inadequately" to address such crises, "despite the country's economic development since the last periodic review in 2015," the IHREC said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Noeline Blackwell, highlighted what she described as improvements in the area of women's reproductive rights.
"It is not a perfect situation in relation to the right to access abortion, because access is still a problem. But there is an improvement there.
"There's an improvement in parental leave and there are improvements around the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence sector where there were significant plans to improve, but still the refuges aren't there that people need and civil legal aid isn't there for people."
Ms Blackwell said if Ireland has committed to use all its available resources to ensure that its people receive their economic, social and cultural rights, "there is a significant distance to go".
"It looks like we're going so slowly or that we're going backwards," she added.
"We're not going forward enough in areas like adequate housing, adequate right to work and decent wages, adequate access to the health service, adequate access to education, particularly if you're poor," she said.
The IHREC called for leadership and brave decision-making from the State, "that acknowledges the lack of progress made so far ... and a determined ambition to materially improve the situation of many in our country that suffer inequality."
Five Refugee Housing Firms Are Paid €100m
Revealed: five firms paid more than €100m for asylum seeker accommodation
https://extra.ie/2024/01/22/
Five companies were paid more than €100m by the State to provide accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers for just six months last year.
A total of 184 companies were each paid more than €1m in lucrative State contracts for the first six months of last year, sharing a total combined payment of €650,361,411.34.
The massive multi-million payout does not include the dozens of other firms and business people who were paid less than €1m.
The enormous scale of the payments, which have made many private providers multimillionaires, is revealed as the Government comes under intense pressure over its failure to end the State’s reliance on private accommodation providers.
In its Programme for Government, the Coalition promised to end the Direct Provision system and replace private accommodation with State-run reception centres.
But as the war in Ukraine resulted in an unprecedented wave of migration here, with more than 100,000 refugees seeking protection, the taxpayer-funded accommodation bill has skyrocketed, making many private providers multi-millionaires in the process.
And as the Coalition enters the final year of its term in office, the State still does not own a single room where it can house asylum seekers or refugees.
An analysis of all spending on accommodation made by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s department between January and June of last year show just five companies – Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, Brimwood Limited, Travel Lodge Hotels, Holiday Inn Dublin Airport and Guestford Limited – billed the taxpayer for more than €101m.
The biggest earner was Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, which received more than €29.8m in just six months.
This was followed by a firm controlled by Monaghan GAA manager Séamus McEnaney, whose Carrickmacross-based company Brimwood Limited was paid €23.1m.
Otherwise known as ‘Banty’, Mr McEnaney has frequently featured in the top companies earning millions each year for providing asylum seekers and refugees with accommodation.
Monaghan’s manager Seamus McEnaney
Two of his relatives are also involved in Brimwood Limited.
When contacted this weekend for comment, the GAA manager declined to provide any response.
The third-biggest refugee accommodation millionaire firm was UK registered Travel Lodge Hotels, which was paid more than €17.2m in the first six months of last year.
The Holiday Inn at Dublin Airport and members of the Moran hotel family’s Guestford Limited were paid €15.6m and €15.4m respectively for the same period.
Five other companies who make up the top 10 earning accommodation providers – TIFCO Limited, Windward Management Limited, Mosney Holidays, Next Week & Co, Allpro Security Services – earned a combined €65m-plus over the six-month period.
None of the top 10 companies returned a request for comment.
On average, the State is now paying more than €42m every month to provide accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers.
Last year alone, the taxpayer paid more than half a billion euro to private accommodation providers, almost a fifth of which was paid to just five companies.
The Department of Integration was unable to provide any figures detailing how much was spent on renting accommodation during the second half of last year.
Meanwhile, it has emerged one of the top 10 earning asylum and refugee accommodation providers for the first half of last year is a tax defaulter.
Allpro Security Services prides itself on having a ‘passionate team’ that is ‘committed to the highest quality standards in everything that we do’.
But, according to documents lodged with the Companies Registration Office in Dublin, the Revenue Commissioners investigated the firm for underpayment of PAYE, PRSI, USC and VAT, after which the company made a €895,082.18 settlement.
Allpro did not respond to requests for comment this weekend. It also appears some of the top paid refugee accommodation providers own several companies receiving lucrative State contracts.
When the MoS contacted the Holiday Inn seeking comment about its €15.6m payment, an employee provided an email address for a member of the hotel management team with a Tifco email address.
Five other companies who make up the top 10 earning accommodation providers – TIFCO Limited, Windward Management Limited, Mosney Holidays, Next Week & Co, Allpro Security Services – earned a combined €65m-plus over the six-month period.
None of the top 10 companies returned a request for comment.
Businesswomen Sinéad Fennelly and Carol Dwyer are directors of two separate companies, Gateway Integration Unlimited and Airways Centre Unlimited, each of which received separate payments totalling €10.9m for providing accommodation services to the State.
Another firm called Propiteer IBIS Red Cow was paid €3.54m between January and June of last year.
The directors of this firm are listed as UK-based businessmen David Marshall and Colin Sandy.
The Companies Registration Office in Dublin said it received a notice last year that a receiver was to be appointed with respect to property owned by Propiteer IBIS Red Cow. The company also declined to respond to queries.
Details of the huge payments to private accommodation providers come as the Government comes under increasing criticism over its response to the immigration crisis.
Last weekend, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar vowed the Government would produce a ‘robust strategy’ in the wake of growing tensions in towns earmarked to host asylum seekers.
Mr O’Gorman’s Department of Integration refused to respond to detailed queries about the new plan, due to be unveiled on February 1. However, the MoS has learned part of the plan involves rehashing promises made in the Programme for Government to build State-run reception centres to replace private accommodation providers.
Government sources said the main sites currently being canvassed are the old Baggot Street Hospital in Dublin 4 and the site of the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, which is currently in the process of being transferred to the Land Development Agency (LDA) and has planning permission for 852 homes.
Thornton Hall – the north Co. Dublin site of the unsuccessful plans to build a ‘superprison’ – is also believed to be under consideration.
Other mooted measures include a significant increase in State funding for local communities, and a potential scaling up of the Community Integration Fund, a €50m scheme run by Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys.
However, even Cabinet members have not yet been informed of details around the new immigration strategy.
One minister said: ‘We are essentially in the dark; we don’t know whether it is four [asylum reception] centres or six centres. We have been told nothing except that there is a plan on February 1.’
Cabinet sources said there is growing frustration over Mr O’Gorman’s handling of his immigration brief. One minister said the Taoiseach ‘has taken control’ and is ‘essentially in charge’ of the Government’s response.
There is a growing realisation within Government that the configuration of Mr O’Gorman’s multifaceted department, which also encompasses Children, Youth, Equality and Disability, is woefully ill-equipped to deal with the deepening immigration problem.
A Cabinet source said it is acknowledged that the decision to take Immigration out of the Department of Justice ‘did not work’ They told the MoS: ‘The Department [of Integration] is not fully functional. It is not fulfilling its responsibilities when it comes to immigration.’
The source said Immigration will ultimately be removed, either as a standalone ministry or returned under the Department of Justice, ‘This is more than likely a task for a new government, but it is simply going to have to be done,’ they added.
‘Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was a bespoke ministry designed by Roderic for Roderic, and now it is falling apart.’
‘The configuration was absurd. To be fair, it was done when Direct Provision figures were 3,500 but we have moved to a point where this is now a serious threat to politics; not just parties, but politics generally.’
Another minister said: ‘There is concern about cross-contamination, that Justice and Housing may get dragged into the fire. There needs to be a clear separation between refugees and housing. Everything is in a state of polarisation and fear, and that’s just the Cabinet.’
Another senior Government source added: ‘Leo and [Tánaiste] Micheál [Martin] need to take control. We are losing on this issue… it is running out of control. This is not an issue that can be resolved by an add-on to the Department of Children.’
In response to queries about the Government’s new strategy, a spokesperson for Mr O’Gorman said: ‘The minister intends to bring a memo to Cabinet in coming weeks which will outline a new approach to the accommodation of International Protection applicants.’
In response to queries about the Government’s new strategy, a spokesperson for Mr O’Gorman said: ‘The minister intends to bring a memo to Cabinet in coming weeks which will outline a new approach to the accommodation of International Protection applicants.’
The Department did not respond to queries in relation to the payments made to private accommodation providers.
(With additional reporting by Colm McGuirk and John Drennan)
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The largest hotel in Drogheda, Co Louth, is to be converted into a centre for asylum seekers.
The 111-bed four star D Hotel will be used to house 500 International Protection (IP) applicants from March 5th.
The hotel, which overlooks the river Boyne, was sold last year to an unnamed buyer by Gleann Hospitality. It went on the market for €10 million.
The Department of Integration confirmed the arrangement, stating that it has “responded to an offer of accommodation made in respect of this property”.
“A full assessment of the property has been completed, all requirements are in place and a contract has been signed. It will be brought into use in the near future to provide accommodation for people applying for International Protection.”
The hotel will exclusively be for IP applicants and not for Ukrainians who overwhelmingly apply instead for temporary protection.
The Department stated that its community engagement team is engaging with “all local representatives, the local authority and the community response forum”.
“It has provided them with detailed accurate information about the planned use of the property. The team has also liaised with all relevant national services to ensure that they have the relevant information they need to inform and respond to service provision locally.
“This includes services for social welfare, health, education, transport, justice, and the HSE, An Garda Síochána, the local integration teams and the local development office.”
The town’s deputy mayor Kevin Callan said he and other local representatives only found out about it on Wednesday morning.
He suggested it would have a “devastating impact” on Drogheda as the hotel is the biggest in the town.
He described the D Hotel as the “anchor” of the tourism strategy for the town and the Boyne Valley. “This is the hotel that coach tours go to because it has the capacity,” he said.
“It might as well be turned into a warehouse or a cinema. There has been no consultation. The previous hotel owners and management were extremely proactive in working with the council and the business community and the chamber of commerce for events like the Fleadh. We wouldn’t be able to go for the Fleadh again if we lose this hotel.”
Cllr Callan said he understood that asylum seekers have to be housed, but the choice of Drogheda’s largest hotel would have an adverse effect.
“I have no issue with people needing accommodation, but this will impact on a lot of small businesses in the town. We will lose more than 1,500 bed nights a week.”
Ronan McGreevy
Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times
Taoiseach calls for deportation of failed asylum seekers as EU toughens migration stance
Ireland must be firm with those who arrive ‘with a false story or false pretences’, Varadkar says
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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called for the need to secure the borders of the European Union to prevent human trafficking and for rejected asylum seekers to be deported in a hardening of rhetoric as EU leaders met for an extraordinary summit on migration.
The 27 national leaders called the summit after several member states recorded a large increase in irregular crossings of EU borders and appealed for joint action to address the issue, though it was somewhat overshadowed on Thursday by the surprise visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“Refugees are welcome in Ireland. People who need our protection should get it. We also need to be firm with people who come to Ireland with a false story or false pretences,” Mr Varadkar told journalists, saying a key topic for leaders was “how we can better secure our external borders around Europe”.
“We should decide who enters our country, not criminal gangs,” the Taoiseach said. “Lots of people coming into Europe gain refugee status or the right to remain, but others don’t, and they should be returned.”
Asked if the Taoiseach was referring to specific recent instances of human trafficking, a spokesman for Mr Varadkar said that authorities all over the EU were seeking to combat the problem of trafficking and that Ireland was not immune to this.
[ Letter from Irish Refugee Council chief executive ]
The Garda confirmed it was investigating “a number of specific cases of human trafficking at present”.
Later, after a meeting with Mr Zelenskiy, Mr Varadkar said that he did not wish for his comments to be perceived as a hardening tone on immigration.
“I’m somebody who’s in favour of migration. I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “It strengthens our economy, we wouldn’t run half our public services without migrants and [it] enriches our culture too.
But he added that as well as being “fair” with refugees, Ireland needed “to be firm as well with people who come to the country with a story that doesn’t stack up. We need to be very clear to them, that their applications will be refused and that they will be sent home to their country of origin.”
EU leaders agree there is a need to increase the rate of deportations of people whose applications for refugee status are rejected. A draft copy of the summit conclusions read that “swift action is needed to ensure effective returns” of those whose asylum applications fail.
The lack of co-operation of countries of origin in receiving back their citizens is a major obstacle to deportations and the draft conclusions backed the idea of “using as leverage all relevant EU policies, instruments and tools, including diplomacy, development, trade and visas”.
[ More than 4,500 refugees and asylum seekers arrive in Ireland since start of the year ]
[ Plan to fast-track asylum cases must be fair, Government told ]
Some member states have pushed for an even harder line, including the swift rejection and immediate deportation of people from countries that are considered safe such as Morocco or Georgia, removing the prospect of a lengthy appeals process.
There is also a push for the EU to strike agreements with non-EU countries for asylum claims to be processed outside its borders, and for the union to even consider cutting development aid to countries that don’t agree to take back their citizens when they are deported – something the Irish Government is understood to oppose.
A key row ahead of the summit was over whether EU funds should be used to fund border barriers, reflecting a shift in policy since European leaders condemned the “build a wall” pledge of then-US president Donald Trump five years ago.
Austria has led calls for such measures after applications for asylum there tripled in 2022 to reach 108,490. The Vienna government has said that a large proportion of these travelled into the EU across the Bulgarian-Turkish border and has called for EU funding for a barrier the:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/74c03bab-41c4-40db-aa72-9990f1078f61.png)
Shocking Corruption involving Seamus "BANTY" McEnaney
Shocking Corruption. Please share
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Following on from my previous posts where i exposed Monaghan Senior Football Manager Seamus "The Banty" McEnaney, and secondly exposed horseraceing magnate and Carrickmacross "Slum landlord" Sean Jones, and highlighted their greed fueled roles in making obscene and immoral amounts of money from housing asylum seekers and vulnerable people in Carrickmacross and its environs.
Today I'm going to tell you about Mr Ciaran Marron, the Co. Monaghan businessman and "Banty" Minion who is based in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, and who is a Director of several companies such as Wardglade Ltd, Marron Activ8 Energies Ltd, Hollyhaven Ltd, Accessridge Ltd, CO Developments Newco Ltd, Farmgen, Activ8 Group and not forgetting Sparkle beauty Ltd- which trades as 'The Ivy Skin & Laser Specialists' - a beauty business run by his wife Orla in Carrickmacross.
All companies are registered at Dunoge, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan.
In truth Ciaran Marron has been nothing but the front man for The McEnaney Brothers
(or as we like to call them - The "Banty Boys") in connection with their involvement in the Master Deerys property in Monaghan Town, and Foleys Bar on Merrion Row, Dublin 2. Both of which were acquired by illegal forced evictions!
Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney is the license holder on both properties, and Ciaran Marron has signed for Master Deerys under Wardglade Ltd and signed for Foleys under Active8 Energies Ltd.
Seamus McEnaneys company - Trenthall Ltd, which is the company he trades under for his dirty and immoral direct provision dealings, and the same Trenthall Ltd that the Reception and Integration Agency has paid millions to, to source accommodation for Asylum seekers, is also the company that he trades under for Foleys Bar on Merrion row, so both Marron and McEnaneys dirty, greedy little direct provision paws are trading only a stones throw from Government Buildings and Leinster House.
Feargal Deery, who was the proprietor of Master Deerys in Monaghan Town, was put through hell and back by these despicable individuals, and was thankfully found Not Guilty by a jury after being tried on 12 charges of trespass and causing criminal damage at the same premises on dates between 24th April and 28th August 2016. The trial was told that a company called Wardglade Ltd had acquired legal title to the property in January 2015, and that it had nominated Seamus McEnaney as the licence holder in respect of the premises.
YES INDEED, that's the exact same Wardglade Ltd that Ciaran Marron is a Director of.
Feargal Deerys' Architectural plans and intellectual property have been used openly and unscrupulously by Marron and McEnaney in Foleys, The Westenra Hotel in Monaghan Town, what was previously Dusty's in Carrickmacross, and also Shiftys@ The Westenra Hotel in Monaghan Town.
That's the same Westenra Hotel where only last year McEnaney made the biggest settlement to the Revenue Commissioners in 2018, after he was filed on the defaulters list for a tax bill of €2.58 million, which was incurred for the under declaration of PAYE, PRSI, Universal Social Charge and VAT.
Ciaran Marron and his wife's original signing of fraudulent documents has seen Feargal Deery wrongly complete nearly six months in Jail, firstly in Mountjoy for a month in May /June 2016, then Castlrea at the end of August 2016, for a week while awaiting court bail over Marrons misleading statements in relation to ownership of the property. Then in July 2017 Feargal was remanded to CloverHill for nearly four months, and lastly he spent a week in Mountjoy this August, as again Marron tried to cover his tracks to suit Seamus 'The Banty' McEnaney and Co.
Ciaran and Orla Marron were made aware by registered post as to the extent of the fraud in relation to Master Deerys' in
October 2015, plus the use of the intellectual property in the various locations.
The Senior Counsel they used in 2015/ 2016 was Hugh Mohan SC, the same Hugh Mohan SC who's mother is a sister of Seamus McEnaneys mother. Both families had multi-million Euro write downs from AIB, but when you look at the bigger picture, it's very easy to see why, once you have the ability to join the dots, and understand what's happening.
When you look at the extent of the humiliation, corruption, mental distress and all the rest, that Feargal Deery has been put through by the likes of Ciaran Marron, Seamus McEnaney and their cohorts, many other men would have crumbled, and would not be here to tell the tale, but Feargals conscience didn't allow him to. He knew he needed to expose the level of corruption within the system, and expose the likes of Marron, McEnaney, AIB, Grant Thornton, and indeed some elements of An Garda Siochana.
The main element of An Garda Siochana being Superintendent Noel Cunnigham, who stated on record, in Virginia district court, on the 26th of August 2016 that “All issues in relation to property ownership have been sorted out at High Court level."
That was a blatant lie!
REMEMBER, This is the same Superintendent Noel Cunningham who was centrally involved in preparing the letter, which was used to try and destroy Sergeant Maurice McCabe. If Maurice McCabe had not secretly recorded the conversation between himself and Supt Noel Cunningham in 2008, then the statements that Cunningham would have given to the Commission would have been completely different. It wasn't until they realised that McCabe had the audio evidence to defend himself that the state actors were forced to change their tack. This is what brought the whole smear campaign against Seargent McCabe tumbling down.
The only thing left for Ciaran and Orla Marron to do, is drop their fraudulent claim with regards to Master Deerys & The Junction, and by doing so, Seamus 'The Banty' McEnaney will get his legal comeuppance, given the multiples of people he’s screwed over.
Ciaran Marron and his wife Orla, are fully aware of the financial, emotional and mental distress that their actions have caused the Deery Family, so why don't they do what's right, instead of trying to cover their tracks and trying to cover for the McEnaneys?
All they're doing is delaying the inevitable consequences that will be the result of their fallacious conduct, and when they're taken down, which they most definitely will be, McEnaney will be going down along with them!
I wonder are they playing these games because the Banty has something on them? Or is it because they're unscrupulous, callous and gutless individuals, just like their McEnaney friends?
Who knows which it is, but I know one thing for certain, the truth always comes out in the end, and they're going to be very sorry people when it does!
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Company details and media reports can be seen on the links below. 
https://www.solocheck.ie/…/
https://www.solocheck.ie/
https://www.solocheck.ie/
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https://opengovuk.com/company/
https://www.solocheck.ie/Iris…
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https://www.irishtimes.com/…/
https://www.thejournal.ie/
GAA boss received €15.78million for accommodating asylum seekers
Seamus “Banty” McEnaney’s Brimwood Ltd, secured the highest amount paid out to any single company by the Irish Government
BY GORDON DEEGAN 08:48, 18 DEC 2021
A company controlled by a GAA manager last year received €15.78million for accommodating asylum seekers.
Seamus “Banty” McEnaney’s Brimwood Ltd, secured the highest amount paid out to any single company by the Irish Government.
The Monaghan football boss’s company was the only firm to receive fees in excess of €15million with four others receiving payments of more than €10million.
The top five paid firms shared a combined €64million.
Mr McEnaney, 53, operates the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan. Brimwood received the pay for eight properties in counties Monagan, Meath, Louth, Cavan and Dublin with a combined capacity of 496 in 2020.
A spokesman for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth confirmed planning is well advanced on purchasing property.
It is also developing a system of income support for international protection applicants and the integration support system that will apply in a new system that is to replace Direct Provision.
In Drumcondra, Some Question Whether New Homeless Hostel Should Be Privately Run
In Drumcondra, some question whether a homeless hostel that opened earlier this month should be run by a private company rather than a charity.
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/02/10/how-immigration-became-a-divisive-issue-in-irish-politics/
How the political mood music on asylum issue is changing
Parties fear flaws in asylum-processing system will be exploited by far-right groups
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Seamus “Banty” McEnaney ex-GAA Boss controlled company Brimwood Ltd
The contract with Brimwood Limited in Drumcondra is to accommodate 40 people at a time for five years, according to an April report from DRHE to councillors.
Photo by Donal Corrigan
In Drumcondra, some question whether a homeless hostel that opened earlier this month should be run by a private company rather than a charity.
“We need high-quality facilities that are based on the needs of people and not on profit-making incentives,” says Green Party Councillor Janet Horner.
A spokesperson for Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) says the property owners, Brimwood Ltd, will operate the hostel directly.
Most emergency accommodation for homeless people in Dublin is run by private companies not charities, figures from the Department of Housing for the last week in March 2020 suggest.
Brimwood Ltd
The contract with Brimwood Limited in Drumcondra is to accommodate 40 people at a time for five years, according to an April report from DRHE to councillors.
“The average length of time an individual will reside there is envisaged to be between 3 and 6 months,” said the report, which refers to this as “emergency accommodation”. “The property is not a hostel and there is no NGO involved in the management.”
Photos of the facility show bunk beds close together. According to the DRHE report, the Gardaí have visited the facility and it complies with social-distancing rules.
Horner, the Green Party councillor, says “we need to make sure that the rights and health of people using the facilities are respected”.
Homeless services should be planned properly and “standards of care set and enforced to support people to effectively exit homelessness rather than simply being removed from the streets”, she says.
“This will take significant investment from central government,” she said.
Management at the hostel didn’t respond to a phone call and two emails, asking if they were available to talk.
According to company records, Brimwood Ltd is owned by Laura McEnaney, a teacher and Monaghan Ladies footballer.
She’s the daughter of Seamus (Banty) McEnaney, who manages the Monaghan senior football team. It’s unclear whether McEnaney is involved in the new homeless hostel in Drumcondra.
A submission from a local group called Carrickmacross Welcomes to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality last year said that Seamus McEnaney runs Trenthall Ltd.
Trenthall Ltd organises emergency accommodation for asylum seekers in Monaghan and Cavan and runs another homeless hostel in Dublin, at 47/48 Amiens Street. It was formerly Bourke’s Bar.
While the submission from Carrickmacross Welcomes said that McEnaney runs Trenthall, Trenthall Ltd is owned, according to company records, by John and Gavin McEnaney.
In its submission to the committee, Carrickmacross Welcomes said that asylum seekers they had met in different Monaghan locations provided by Trenthall faced multiple problems. Among them: cramped accommodation, unsuitable food, and inadequate provision of basic toiletries.
They said that in one hotel people who were not related to each other were expected to share beds.
A spokesperson for the DRHE said that it is “unaware of any issues with Trenthall LTD”.
“Furthermore DRHE has no formal incidents to report on in relation to Trenthall and or Brimwood LTD in the provision of emergency accommodation,” they said.
Seamus McEnaney didn’t respond to two text messages, asking if he or Laura McEnaney were available to discuss the Drumcondra hostel or private hostels in general.
Private Hostels
Horner, the Green Party councillor, was surprised that the new homeless hostel in Drumcondra was not going to be run by a charity.
“The move towards private emergency accommodation and the lack of external monitoring of the social-care provisions and supports is deeply troubling,” she says.
In late March, there were 2,442 homeless adults in private emergency accommodation in Dublin – which is more than in charity-run facilities, suggest figures from the Department of Housing.
A spokesperson for the DRHE says that since March, it has opened 470 more beds for single people in private hostels due to the Covid-19 emergency.
That would appear to bring the total in private homeless accommodation to around 2,900 adults.
Fr Peter McVerry, the anti-homelessness campaigner, said he was surprised by that distribution.
Not all of those are in private hostels. Around 540 families living in hotels and B&Bs are included, according to DRHE figures.
The DRHE says that 1,400 single homeless people were in private hostels at the end of March.
Complaints and Standards
At times, people who are homeless and staying in hostels run by private companies have complained about treatment by staff, or the concerns about how complaints are dealt with, or the lack of support workers.
In April this year, Robert Redmond said he had been on the housing list for 12 years. In recent times he was accommodated in privately operated hostels.
It was problem for him because he can’t read and write, he said, and the hostels didn’t offer him any support to progress his housing situation: “there were no key workers in any of them.”
Councillors and homeless advocates are concerned about standards slipping, as more private hostels open.
“An independent oversight body to implement appropriate standards in care is what is required to tackle the downward spiral in service provision,” said independent Councillor Anthony Flynn, who is also the CEO of Inner City Helping Homeless, last October.
The DRHE published its National Quality Framework Standards in 2019. According to its website, and to the document itself, the standards apply to all types of services, including those run by private companies.
The standards require in-depth assessment and support planning for each resident to help them achieve health, well-being, education, and training goals as well as to address their housing needs.
The standards require that all homeless services have a code of conduct for staff, a complaints procedure and an appeals procedure.
There are loftier aims too – like service-user involvement in every aspect of decision making about the service.
Homeless advocates including McVerry and Flynn, as well as homeless people, including Redmond, say that private hostels do not have support workers.
Fr McVerry says he gets complaints from homeless people about standards across the sector: whether charity-run or private.
“There is an issue of standards in all hostels, even in our hostels,” he says. “I’m quite critical of having four people in a room.”
But private hostels are a lot quicker to evict people than charities, he says. “They will throw you out a moment’s notice for what would appear to me to be very minor breaches.”
“They want to make money as comfortably as possible so just get rid of anyone who is problematic,” says McVerry.
The solution is for an independent body to be brought in to inspect all hostels to ensure that they meet the required standards, says McVerry.
“There are standards but there are no inspections, there is no one checking up. They are just standards on paper,” he says.
Asylum seekers moved from hotel to make way for wedding parties
People living in hotel rooms had to move out twice last year due to social functions, writes Philip Ryan
AFTERMATH: The Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey was damaged in a suspected arson attack. Photo: Brian Farrell
The recent arson attacks on hotels earmarked to become direct provision centres have had a number of knock-on consequences.
For one, the asylum seekers, who already live in a constant state of limbo, are further displaced.
Many of those who could have taken up accommodation in Rooskey, Roscommon, and Moville, Donegal, are living in a hotel in Monaghan. There are currently 124 asylum seekers living in the 43-room Treacys Hotel in Carrickmacross.
But unlike the fire-bombed hotels, the situation in Treacys Hotel is not a permanent fix. It's quite the opposite. The hotel, which is part of the Treacy Group, is providing emergency accommodation for those living in the direct provision system.
The Department of Justice has a contract with private company Trenthall Limited which procures hotel rooms for the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA). However, the RIA does not have exclusive use of these rooms and they are generally booked on a nightly basis.
Trenthall is run by former Monaghan County manager Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney.
Treacys Hotel's contract is with Trenthall and it provides up to 35 rooms to the company when possible. Treacys Hotel is also a working resort which hosts weddings and other functions. This means when the hotel has other bookings all 124 residents pack up their belongings and are moved to another premises.
This happened on at least two occasions last year when the hotel was booked for functions. And it will continue to happen in the future as the hotel plans to accept future bookings, as is its right.
People representing the local asylum seekers complained about the situation in Monaghan. A Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland spokesperson said: "People are being imported and exported like goods for the kitchen.
"Some weekends they're faced with a different bed, reception and rules for collecting their food.
"The Government has a responsibility to these people who are seeking international protection because the Government signed up to the UN Refugee Convention," he added.
In response to queries, a Department of Justice spokesperson said: "In December 2018, RIA became aware after the event that residents were transported from Treacys Hotel in Carrickmacross to Wexford to facilitate an event in the hotel.
"The hotel provider was contacted by RIA and told that this was not to happen again without consultation and if residents had to vacate the hotel on a short-term basis in the future, that suitable local alternatives would have to be found and agreed," he added.
Mr McEnaney confirmed residents were brought to Hotel Rosslare in Wexford.
However, hotel owner John Treacy said he was not aware of residents being brought to Wexford but said they were transferred to a three-star hotel in Ennis, Co Clare, which is also part of his family owned business.
He said this happened on two occasions since October for one night each time.
Mr McEnaney said he was not aware of people being brought to Ennis.
Either way, the fact remains people living within the direct provision system were moved from the hotel they were staying for an evening to make way for a private function.
Mr Treacy said his hotel was required to fulfil contracts he had with wedding parties and tour operators.
"The unfortunate thing is when we decided to take the asylum seekers in we already had bookings in before we took them so we told them we didn't have availability on certain days because we had to be loyal to our previous bookings that are already booked in.
"There was a wedding there, deposits were paid so what am I supposed to do - go tell a happy couple that are getting married 'I'm very sorry but I can't take your wedding because I've taken this group'," he added.
Mr Treacy said he would continue to take bookings for weddings and tour groups.
Treacys Hotel in Carrickmacross was officially opened by RTE star Francis Brennan in November 2017 .
However, in September 2018 a sink hole appeared at the nearby Magheracloone GAA club. A second hole followed in December and resulted in a number road closures in the area.
The sink holes were claimed to have been caused by supports collapsing in a local mineral mine.
The news concerned tour operators who had groups booked into the hotel.
"Unfortunately, the roads started to close. You could still get to the hotel but people started cancelling. Health and safety has to be the main priority of these travel groups so what could we do?" Mr Treacy said.
Around this time, the hotel was asked if they would take in asylum seekers while permanent accommodation was being arranged by RIA.
Mr Treacy said his company was "trying to help people out" and believes those staying in his hotel are happy with the conditions.
"The people are happy, they are happy with the area ad they love the staff there."
The country's direct provision system is accommodating 6,000 asylum seekers. This includes 227 people living in Cavan and Monaghan.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said the service was operating at "full capacity" and "authorities are stretched".
"The issue of direct provision is a significant challenge and I accept the current regime is far from ideal"
The Department of Justice spokesperson said: "New centres that were due to open in Moville and Rooskey have been delayed due to recent malicious events. These centres would have provided accommodation for 180 of the cohort currently in emergency accommodation."
Emergency Accommodation | Anglo Celt
Emergency Accommodation
https://www.anglocelt.ie/2023/
A list of the properties used by the Department of Integration for direct provision and other accommodation for those seeking asylum has been provided in the Dáil.
Emergency centres opened prior to 2022 include Dún a Rí House Hotel, managed by Brimwood Ltd, owned by Laura McEnaney, a teacher and Monaghan Ladies footballer. It received payments of €15.78 million from the Irish State in 2020.
Brimwood also have two centres in Monaghan - Lisanisk House and Treacy’s Hotel, another at the Airport Manor Hotel in Dublin, and four more in Louth.
There were three more emergency centres opened in 2022 and to date in 2023. They include Castlehill Units, Belturbet, managed by Eoin McGuigan; Coleman Court, Monaghan-registered Rossblue Ltd; and Kilnaleck’s Copper Kettle, Clare-based Secure Accommodation Management Ltd
€13.5 million judgement reported against Seamus “Banty” McEnaney
Well-known former manager of the Monaghan county team, and current Meath GAA football manager, Seamus “Banty” McEnaney has had a High Court judgement of €13.49 million registered against him in favour of Allied Irish Banks.
Last Thursday’s Irish Times reported that Pilerp Ltd, a development company in which Mr McEnaney had a one-third share, had gone into receivership.
The company had been involved in developing apartments at The Diamond, Monaghan Town. But on 13th December last, AIB appointed Martin Ferris of Ferris & Associates as receiver.
The registered address of Pilerp Ltd has been given as Westenra Arms Hotel, The Diamond, Monaghan. The hotel is owned by the McEnaney family with Seamus listed as one of its directors. He also has an involvement in running the Fiddlers Elbow pub and restaurant in Carrickmacross.
The Irish Times also reports a judgment of €9.7 million registered by AIB against Thomas McEnaney of Carrickmacross, and two further judgments of €1.25 million each against Frank and Pat McEnaney.
Seamus McEnaney steps down as Monaghan boss - BBC Sport
https://www.bbc.com/sport/
2022
McEnaney began his second stint in charge in 2019
Seamus McEnaney has stepped down as manager of Monaghan's senior footballers with immediate effect.
Having previously been in charge between 2004 and 2010, McEnaney began his second spell in 2019 and took the county to last year's Ulster final.
His decision to step away comes after Monaghan's All-Ireland qualifier defeat by Mayo earlier this month.
In a statement, McEnaney said he wanted to thank the county board for their "unwavering support".
"The Monaghan players are a very special bunch of men who have been fantastic ambassadors for the people of Monaghan in the past and during my term as manager," said McEnaney.
"I have no doubt that they will continue to represent this great county with pride and distinction into the future."
Having guided the Monaghan Minors to an Ulster title in 2018, McEnaney returned to the senior helm a year later to replace Malachy O'Rourke, who masterminded the county's provincial triumphs in 2013 and 2015.
McEnaney led Monaghan to the 2021 Ulster Final, which they lost by a point to Tyrone at Croke Park, and also helped secure their Division One status for next year with a stunning win over Dublin at Clones in March.
Monaghan's Ulster Championship campaign was ended with a semi-final loss to Derry before their All-Ireland first-round qualifier defeat by Mayo.
McEnaney's Monaghan gave fans a day to savour when they beat Dublin to secure their Division One status after a Clones thriller
In his statement, McEnaney reflected on an emotional second stint as boss with the county rocked by the death of Ulster Minor Championship-winning captain Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh in a car accident shortly after Monaghan's Ulster U20 match against Donegal.
"Over the past three years we have experienced a huge range of emotions, some fantastic days and performances to moments of immense sadness," added McEnaney.
"I reflect on the sudden passing of my great friend and main sponsor Phil Traynor and the devastating loss of our 2018 Ulster Minor Championship winning captain Breandán 'Ógie' Duffy followed by the huge emotion of the victory over Armagh to reach our first Ulster final in six years only to lose the final agonisingly.
"This contrasted with this year's final day beating the Dubs to maintain Division One status to ensure that Monaghan supporters can enjoy Division One football for a ninth consecutive year, a record we are rightly proud of.
"I want to conclude by thanking the fantastic gaels of Monaghan who always supported the Monaghan team and who lifted our team performances with their passion and fervour from the stands."
Monaghan GAA chairperson Declan Flanagan said: "Seamus's loyalty devotion, and professionalism to Monaghan GAA is certainly without question.
"His passion and enthusiasm for the progression and development of football in Monaghan has been steadfast from 2010.
"It is with sadness but deep appreciation I wish Seamus all the very best for his future endeavours."
New Chief Executive of The Dublin City Council
Richard Shakespeare is a qualified landscape horticulturalist and engineer with over 30 years’ experience in Local Government across a range of different strategic and operational functions.
Richard Shakespeare is Chief Executive with responsibility for the
- The day-to-day operations of the Council.
- Implementation of council decisions.
- Working with the elected representatives (Councillors) and council staff to implement DCC's vision for a creative and sustainable city.
Mr Shakespeare is a qualified landscape horticulturalist and engineer with over 30 years’ experience in Local Government across a range of different strategic and operational functions.
Before taking up the position of Chief Executive he held the position of Assistant Chief Executive with responsibility for the Planning and Property Development Department and Culture, Recreation and Economic Services here in Dublin City Council.
He has also previously worked for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council as Director of Municipal Services.
Owen Keegan bows out after 10 years as Dublin City Council chief executive
‘All dictatorships must come to an end... even benevolent ones’: Tributes paid at official’s final council meeting
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Tributes were paid by all parties on Dublin City Council to outgoing chief executive Owen Keegan who has left the council after 10 years at the helm.
On behalf of the Independent group of councillors, Cieran Perry said: “I don’t think we’ve agreed on a single issue since we’ve worked together but I do acknowledge your dedication.”
Mr Keegan, who last month handed over his duties to deputy chief executive Richard Shakespeare, attended briefly at Monday night’s council meeting, for the first time without a tie, as Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan noted.
“All dictatorships must come to an end at some point,” Mr Geoghegan quipped “even benevolent ones”. He said Mr Keegan had always been motivated by the public good “although the public didn’t always agree with you on that point” and he wished him a healthy and happy retirement.
Dermot Lacey of the Labour Party thanked Mr Keegan for a “lot of hard work and dedication to the city of Dublin” and said: “I think sometimes you were blamed for things that weren’t your fault, but I think sometimes you relished in that argumentative situation”. Mr Keegan was “honest about the positions” he held and he “argued for Dublin,” Mr Lacey said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre Heney described him as a “committed public servant” and thanked him in particular for ridding Griffith Avenue of heavy goods vehicles.
Hazel de Nortúin of People Before Profit said Mr Keegan was “always transparent” in his dealings with councillors. “I won’t say we were always on the same side of the debate but I won’t leave the housing crisis and the issues we’ve had in the city solely at your feet.”
Mícheál Mac Donncha thanked him for his commitment to the Irish language. The Green Party and Social Democrats also praised his commitment to public service.
The one dissenting voice, Independent councillor John Lyons said Mr Keegan “maintained a very dysfunctional system” and this “wasn’t something that should be commended; it should be condemned”.
Addressing the councillors for the last time, Mr Keegan said he wanted to offer “a special thank you to you John for introducing balance into tonight’s proceedings”, which got a laugh from most of the chamber.
“I think it’s appropriate I should sign off in this chamber which has been the venue of so many defeats I’ve suffered over the years,” he said.
It had been “an absolute privilege to serve as executive of the council for 10 years,” he said “I have nothing but very fond memories of working for the city council.” Mr Keegan thanked the council staff and senior management team and the councillors. “I wish you all the very, very, very best and thank you.”
Mr Shakespeare will remain as acting chief executive ahead of the advertisement of the role by the Public Appointments Service.
Mr Keegan has been the public face of the council during numerous controversies in the past decade.
In early 2019, he was asked to consider his position when he said the quality of Dublin’s homeless accommodation made it an “attractive option” for some people, who might not want to leave.
In August 2021, it was again suggested he should quit for criticising those who provide tents to homeless people as it encouraged rough sleeping and the “proliferation” of tents added to perception the city was unsafe.
Olivia Kelly
Owen Keegan: ‘We disagree fundamentally with those groups... who continue to promote and sustain rough sleeping’
Interview: With just nine months left in his job as Dublin City Council chief executive, Owen Keegan remains direct and unapologetic about his views
Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has a way with words, and as he heads into his final calendar...
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Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has a way with words, and as he heads into his final calendar year after 10 years at the helm of the State’s largest local authority, he offers a succinct self-assessment that despite its brevity, speaks volumes: “I have no issue with people taking issue with me.” Which is just as well.
Keegan, whose contract as chief executive expires at the end of September 2023, clearly has no fear of robust debate. His previous utterances, specifically in relation to the city’s housing and homelessness crises, have raised hackles and inspired not infrequent calls for his resignation.
In early 2019, he was asked to consider his position when he said the quality of Dublin’s homeless accommodation made it an “attractive option” for some people, who might not want to leave.
In August 2021, it was again suggested he pack his bags for criticising those who provide tents to homeless people as it encouraged rough sleeping and the “proliferation” of tents added to perception the city was unsafe.
Sinn Féin support hits lowest level in three years, falling by six points, poll shows
Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll shows Sinn Féin support hits lowest level in three years, falling by six points
Helen McEntee paid state funds to company owned by Fine Gael man charged with charity theft
Justice minister Helen McEntee paid an ex-Fine Gael county councillor charged with alleged charity theft almost €29,000 in state funds for secretarial services.
Former Cavan County Council cathaoirleach Seán McKiernan appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the alleged 2019 theft of more than €172,000 from a Navan mental health housing charity.
Meanwhile The Ditch can reveal that the garda investigation into the alleged theft has been ongoing for almost two years and that auditors have expressed concern that the charity, which houses vulnerable people, may no longer be able to continue to provide services because of its financial situation.
McEntee is among three Fine Gael ministers who paid McKiernan and his company a total of more than €40,000 for secretarial services using an exchequer-funded allowance.
Investigation
Helen McEntee first engaged Seán McKiernan’s secretarial services in 2016 when she was a junior minister, according to records obtained by journalist Ken Foxe.
Under an Oireachtas scheme TDs can claim an allowance of €41,092 for secretarial assistance, public relations or training.
McEntee first paid McKiernan €3,000 under the allowance from September to October 2016 but then began making payments to his company, Consilium Communication Ltd, from November of that year.
McEntee had paid McKiernan and his firm €9,000 in just more than three months by the end of 2016. In 2019 she paid the company €5,899 over four weeks in November and December.
The following year, on 10 November, 2020, McEntee paid Consilium Communications €10,600, again for secretarial services. She made another payment of €3,000 to the company in January 2021.
McEntee paid McKiernan and his company a total of €28,499.
Fine Gael TD Damien English, formerly a junior minister, paid McKiernan and his company €5,400 from September to December 2016. It was during this same period that McKiernan and his company received more than €9,000 from McEntee. English made another payment of €1,800 to Consilium Communications in January 2021.
The Ditch understands that English previously employed McKiernan as his taxpayer-funded civilian driver in 2015 when he was junior education minister.
McKiernan’s party colleague and fellow Cavan man senator Joe O’Reilly also engaged the services of Consilium Communications. From November 2020 to January 2021, O’Reilly paid the company €5,100.
McKiernan with social protection minister Heather Humphreys
Earlier this week McKiernan appeared in Trim District Court charged with the theft of €172,130 from Navan Mental Health Health Housing Association CLG on various dates in 2019.
McKiernan was a director of the charity but resigned in February 2022. The following month both gardaí and the Charities Regulator launched separate investigations into the alleged theft after a disclosure was made by the Meath-based charity in December 2021.
McEntee declined to comment when asked when she stopped using McKiernan’s services and when she became aware that he was under investigation for theft.
How is the council spending €32,000 a month on public toilets at St Stephen’s Green?
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, outside the public toilets at St Stephen’s Green, two staff members stand in yellow high-vis jackets.
One of them pulls on some blue gloves, picks up a spray and a packet of napkins, and disappears into the disabled toilets.
A little while later, Sara Mulqueen and Aoife Sheahan walk out of the toilets together and head towards Grafton Street.
The public toilets are a welcome amenity, they say. “It’s so handy to have them,” says Mulqueen. “They should really be everywhere.”
One reason why they aren’t everywhere, council managers have said, is that they are so expensive.
Dublin City Council is currently spending more than €32,500 a month – or around €390,400 a year – to run just this one set of toilets, its figures show. How is it so costly?
“That can’t be right,” says Sheahan, a woman with pink-streaked dark hair, wearing a leather jacket. “No way,” she says, shaking her head.
At St Stephen’s Green
For years, councillors have called for Dublin City Council to provide more public toilets.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, the inconvenience became a crisis when pubs and cafes closed up and there was nowhere for passersby to sneak in to use a toilet when out and about.
In the summer of 2020, the council launched two sets of public toilets: at St Stephen’s Green on the southside, and at Wolfe Tone Square near the Jervis Shopping Centre on the northside.
“In order to provide necessary facilities for the public in Dublin City Centre during the COVID 19 pandemic it is proposed to install emergency public toilets located at Grafton Street and Wolfe Tone Square,” said a council manager’s order issued in July 2020.
In 2022, the council closed the public toilets on the northside, saying that it was costing around €7 per pee. The ones at the top of Grafton Street were more popular though – and the council kept those open.
A breakdown given to a councillor last year, and documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows the different layers of costs that make up the bill.
Initially, the council spent about €62,400 to install the toilets at St Stephen’s Green, suggests a manager’s order from July 2020. That included plumbing and electrical work, materials, labour, moving trees and installing CCTV, among other things.
Hiring these toilets for four weeks would also come to around €4,600, says the manager’s order, which outlined provisional costs.
Three and a half years later, it appears that the council is still paying each month to hire the facilities. Current costs include a “General Hire Charge” of more than €5,600 a month, according to a response issued to councillors in October 2023.
Other current costs include almost €5,500 a month on cleaning and more than €21,000 on security services, says that response.
Dublin City Council hasn’t responded to a query sent Friday as to whether there was any competition for the contract for the public toilets at St Stephen’s Green.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, public bodies could award contracts without going through the normal procurement process, if it was deemed an emergency.
A search of the tendering platform eTenders turned up no tender for the St Stephen’s Green toilets.
And in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act for tender documents for it, the council did not provide any – but did send a manager’s order for the provision of emergency public toilets.
The council has tendered for different providers of public toilets since.
In April 2021, it tendered for businesses to run coffee docks with toilets that were open to the public.
Some of those businesses that opened toilets together with coffee docks later reduced the number of days they were open.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2023/02/10/refugees-and-legal-obligations
Refugees and legal obligations
We should be careful about writing off all applications from particular countries
Concern at Fine Gael meeting over asylum seekers losing or destroying passports while flying into the State
Sources said Minister Patrick O’Donovan told the meeting that the level of fines that can be imposed on airlines over the issue are ‘far too low’
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Concern was raised at a private Fine Gael meeting over asylum seekers losing or destroying passports while flying into the State.
Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan raised the issue of undocumented arrivals at Wednesday’s parliamentary party meeting.
Sources said he told the meeting that the level of fines that can be imposed on airlines over the issue are “far too low”.
The Government has sanctioned the resumption of passport checks at the steps of aircraft in an attempt to address the significant numbers of asylum seekers who have lost or destroyed their travel documents while flying into the State.
Protesters are far right or trouble-makers.
Mayo TD Michael Ring is understood to have raised concerns about access to health services and Senator Paddy Burke made a similar contribution on community issues.
Mr Ring told the meeting he’s “not far right or far left”, that he’s “down the middle” and communities have concerns over a lack of information.
Minister for Justice Simon Harris is said to have told TDs and Senators that Ireland has “a rules-based system” and it is important that it is “fair and efficient”.
He outlined measures being tackle to strengthen Ireland’s international protection regime including a resumption in deportation orders - which had stopped during the pandemic” and efforts to ensure faster turn-around times for the applications of asylum seekers from so-called safe countries.
Sources said Mr Harris also told the meeting there is “a world of difference” between people in communities raising questions and looking for information and “thuggish behaviour” at some protests.
[ Ireland’s migration politics: ‘It feels as if we’re scrambling and other people are setting the
At the Botanic Gardens, an invitation to take an hour to notice the onset of spring
It is 1 February, the first day of spring in Ireland, and a small group is gathered in the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin for the spring daily guided tour.
There’s just enough wind today to rustle leaves, and the sun is shining through a high white haze of clouds, casting a pale light on the gardens.
On a newly mown lawn nearby, a gull stamps its webbed yellow feet on the grass as if trying to keep warm. Further away, up the hill, the mower continues his work, leaving neat green stripes.
Although it’s a spring tour, winter-flowering plants are still in bloom, and guide Aoife Nic Fhionnlaoich begins with one of these.
It’s a daphne, she says, a Nepalese paper plant. Standing against the visitor centre’s red brick wall it’s a tall bush, taller than a person.
Nepalese paper plant at the Botanic Gardens on 1 February. Credit: Sam Tranum
It has long lime-green leaves and clusters of miniature pale-purple flowers. Their sweet smell wafts over to where the dozen or so members of the tour group are gathered, some standing, others in wheelchairs.
Winter-flowering plants are often strongly scented. They’ve to work harder to attract the few pollinators working during the cold months, Nic Fhionnlaoich says.
As she leads the group away from the centre and into the 50-acre garden to see more of its 17,000 species of plants, tour-group member Patrick Butler follows.
“I’m 72, but this is my first time here,” says the man from Athboy in Co. Meath, about 60km from here. “It’s like what they say, the closer to the altar, the further from godliness.”
But he and his wife Helen Butler were up in Dublin for an appointment, he says, and decided to finally visit before heading home.
Bumblebees
As Nic Fhionnlaoich leads, the group follows after, the majority of it consisting of four young people in wheelchairs, each attended by a carer.
They’ve come up from the St John of God day centre in Islandbridge as part of a QQI level 1 course in horticulture, says healthcare assistant Eimear Keilthy, pushing a young woman in a chair.
“Tomorrow we’ll attempt to do Bridget’s crosses,” Keilthy says.
Nic Fhionnlaoich shows the group a delicate little wintersweet tree, branches covered in wilty green flowers, which she says can be made into tea.
“This is one I’ve seen a lot of bumblebees around,” she says.
Then there’s a large acacia from Australia, which now has a halo of gorgeous yellow flowers – which she says will be followed by large pods filled with edible peas.
Just beyond that, she stops to point out a silk tassel bush from the States – Oregon and California – with long white strings of little dangling flowers. “It’s wind-pollinated, so it has no scent,” Nic Fhionnlaoich says.
Further on, she stops in front of a shoulder-high thicket of mahonia, with spiky holly-like leaves, and yellow flowers.
“It’s very nice how they’ve planted a bunch of them here,” says Helen Butler. “I just planted one in my garden and it’s just sitting there looking weird.”
Snowdrops
Among the winter-flowering plants, signs of spring are popping up too.
Stands of delicate purple crocuses push up through the ground, and tiny floor lamp-like snowdrops dangle white blossoms.
“Some people who are obsessed with them,” says Nic Fhionnlaoich. “Galanthophiles.”
The flowers are pretty amazing, though, she says. They’ve got natural anti-freeze in their cells, she says.
And when the temperature is above 10°C, the blossoms will open, she says. If it drops below, they’ll close up, to protect themselves, she says.
Not only that, she recounts a story of scientists observing people in the Caucasus rubbing snowdrops on their foreheads for pain relief.
And it turns out snowdrop bulbs contain galantamine, which is “approved for use in the management of Alzheimer’s disease in over 70 countries worldwide”, according to the UK’s Royal College of Physicians.
Altamont Gardens near Tullow in Co. Carlow has more than 150 varieties of snowdrops, Nic Fhionnlaoich says.
At about this point the Butlers break away and amble towards the gardens’ exit, probably headed home to Meath.
The folks from Islandbridge continue the tour a little longer until the hour is up and Nic Fhionnlaoich has to get on.
Two men being questioned over arson attack on Dublin pub
https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2024/0208/1431137-fire-arrests/
Two men are being questioned in connection with an arson attack on a former pub in Dublin on New Year's Eve.
The men, aged in their 30s and 50s, were arrested on suspicion of arson for offences under the Criminal Damage Act following searches at four homes in Dublin this morning.
A woman in her 20s who was also arrested, has since been released without charge.
A number of items including electronic devices were seized during this morning's garda operation.
The investigation concerns damage caused to the Shipwright pub and guesthouse on Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, which was being renovated to provide emergency accommodation for homeless families.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone with information in relation to this investigation to contact Irishtown Garda Station 01 666 9600, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
They are also appealing to anyone with any information on any other reported incidents of arson to contact them via the Garda Confidential Line, or any member of An Garda Síochána.
So far, a total of 10 people have been arrested and questioned in connection with 18 arson attacks on properties all over the country since January of last year.
Louth hotel to house international protection applicants
https://www.rte.ie/news/
The D hotel in the centre of Drogheda has 113 bedrooms
One of Drogheda's largest hotels is to be used as accommodation for people seeking international protection.
The D hotel in the centre of the Co Louth town has 113 bedrooms and has capacity to accommodate 500 people.
The news that the hotel would be used for International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) accommodation from next month was communicated to elected representatives in the area today.
The briefing, from the Department of Integration, said that all relevant State support services in the area have been informed of the move and are preparing what additional supports will be needed to assist the people who are accommodated in the hotel.
Deputy Mayor of Drogheda Kevin Callan has said that the announcement came without prior consultation with Louth County Council or the elected representatives of the council.
Mr Callan said that converting the towns largest hotel into an accommodation centre for international protection applicants will "decimate the local economy".
He called for the Minister for Integration to intervene to reverse the move "as a matter of urgency".
Mr Callan said that the change, in the heart of a tourism destination, would "devastate business in the town", including restaurants, cafes, the museum and other businesses.
The Department of Integration confirmed that a contract has been signed.
"The International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS) has responded to an offer of accommodation made in respect of this property," a spokesperson said.
"A full assessment of the property has been completed, all requirements are in place and a contract has been signed. It will be brought into use in the near future to provide accommodation for people applying for international protection."
The spokesperson said that the community engagement team is engaging with local representatives, the local authority and the community response forum.
"It has provided them with detailed accurate information about the planned use of the property," the spokesperson said.
"The team has also liaised with all relevant national services to ensure that they have the relevant information they need to inform and respond to service provision locally.
"This includes services for social welfare, health, education, transport, justice, and the HSE, An Garda Síochana, the local integration teams and local development office."
The Department said that Ireland is currently accommodating more than 101,000 people seeking shelter and safety between those fleeing war in Ukraine and International Protection Applicants.
These people are accommodated in more than 200 properties across every county.
"Despite the efforts of the department, there are not enough beds available to accommodate everyone who needs one, particularly for single adult males," the spokesperson said.
"As a result, the department is not able to provide accommodation to all single male international protection applicants. The most vulnerable people are being accommodated, others will be offered accommodation as soon as its available.
"The department is now also experiencing increasing pressure in its efforts to secure accommodation for arriving families, including those with children. This follows a significant increase in the number of families seeking accommodation.
"In the last two months the need for family accommodation has increased considerably."
Mapped: The fires linked to accommodation for migrants
https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2024/0207/1431003-mapped-the-fires-linked-to-accommodation-for-migrants/
In November 2018, a hotel in the coastal Donegal town of Moville was set on fire. The Caiseal Mara Hotel, which was reportedly earmarked to house more than 100 asylum seekers, was set alight when the owner was inside in the early hours of the morning.
Since then, an analysis by Prime Time shows there have been at least 23 fires set at properties or locations linked, or rumoured to be linked, to the housing of people seeking asylum or international protection. This includes the most recent reported incident in Leixlip overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday.
In recent months, there has been a marked increase in such attacks. Across 2023 there were at least 13 incidents, but 10 of the 23 total incidents have occurred in the three months since November.
So far in 2024, there have been four fires reported at properties that were linked to housing people who are officially categorised as international protection applications (IPAs) or beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs).
Over the years, certain properties have been targeted more than once; in some places there have been multiple fires within a local area.
Several locations have been the site of protests.
In response to questions from Prime Time, An Garda Siochána said "the majority of public gatherings and persons attending them are peaceful and their intent is peaceful."
However, the statement issued also noted "such gatherings, and in effect those persons attending them, are used by a small minority with extreme and potentially criminal and dangerous intent to spread misinformation, disinformation and fake news."
Of the 23 fires, nine have occurred in Dublin. All the fires mapped by Prime Time in Dublin occurred after January 2023.
The incidents outside Dublin began with the arson attack on the hotel in Donegal in 2018.
Incidents outside Dublin
Caisel Mara Hotel, Moville, Donegal, November 2018
An arson attack took place in a hotel in the coastal Donegal town of Moville in November 2018. It was reported at the time that the Caiseal Mara Hotel had been earmarked to house more than 100 asylum seekers, when it was set on fire.
The owner of the hotel, who was inside the building when it was attacked, was taken to hospital. The owner's daughter told the Irish Independent at the time that the family had received threats leading up to the fire, after it became known it would be housing asylum seekers.
Shannon Key West Hotel, Rooskey, Roscommon, January 2019 & February 2019
The Shannon Key West Hotel in Rooskey on the Leitrim/Roscommon border was twice set on fire in early 2019. It was due to open as accommodation for 80 people when it was first targeted.
Gardaí said at the time that they suspected the first attack was planned days in advance, and that the suspected perpetrators had been monitoring the premises leading up to the fire being set.
It remains closed.
Tesco, Ballinamore, Leitrim, October 2019
A Tesco supermarket in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim was the target of a suspected arson attack in October 2019.
The supermarket is attached to a 25-unit apartment complex that was set to house more than 100 IPAs.
CCTV of the incident showed a person pouring petrol outside the entrance to the Tesco store underneath the apartments, though the resultant fire did not cause any major damage.
Sinn Féin TD’s car, Aughavas, Leitrim, November 2019
Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny was targeted in a suspected arson attack in November 2019. Mr Kenny's car was set alight in the driveway of his family home a week after he said he had received death threats following a speech he made about asylum seekers in the Dáil.
Mr Kenny and his family have since sold their home and moved. That came after another incident in September 2022, in which a car was crashed through their electric gates.
A 49-year-old man appeared before the courts charged with damaging the gates and dangerous driving.
Nobody has been arrested over the burning of the car, according to the Sinn Féin TD.
Kill International Equestrian Centre, Kill, Kildare, November 2022
Five units of Kildare Fire Brigade were needed to put out a fire at a disused equestrian centre in Kill, following a suspected arson attack. The Kill International Equestrian Centre was set to house up to 350 Ukrainian BOTPs.
The fire was set at a building adjacent to the main equestrian centre. Part of the equestrian centre has since been repurposed and currently houses at least 100 Ukrainian BOTPs.
Prime Time understands that no arrest was made in relation to the fire
Lisfannon, Buncrana, Donegal, May 2023
A building owned by former presidential candidate Peter Casey was the target of an arson attack in the Lisfannon Business Park area, outside Buncrana, on 11 May 2023.
The premises was to be used to house up to 50 people displaced by the war in Ukraine.
In the aftermath of the incident, Mr Casey took to X, formerly Twitter, to say: "So last night, my 'not for profit’ centre for Ukrainian refugees in Buncrana, was broken into and severely damaged by fire."
On 24 July 2023 Mr Casey submitted planning permission to Donegal County Council to change the use of the building from office space to eight apartments.
The Sailor’s Rest, Buncrana, Donegal, May 2023
Unlike most of the suspected arson attacks listed, an incident at the Sailor’s Rest in Buncrana occurred while there were already up to 50 people living at the emergency accommodation centre.
CCTV footage of the incident captured an individual throwing an object at the front of the building on Monday 15 May. The owners of the centre said the footage shows there was a clear attempt to throw a firework through an open window on the roof of the building, but it exploded on the roof instead.
The footage was handed over to Gardaí and Prime Time understands that an investigation was opened, but no arrests have been made.
Gaelscoil Uí Ríordáin, Ballincollig, Cork, July 2023
A former primary school building in Ballincollig was the location of a suspected arson attack on 28 July 2023. It was reported by the Irish Examiner that Gaelscoil Uí Ríordáin, which had been lying empty for several years, was to be repurposed to house 94 Ukrainian BOTPs.
Gardaí launched an investigation at the time. Prime Time understands that no arrests have been made in relation to the fire.
Abbeyville House, Fermoy, Cork, November 2023
A homemade petrol bomb was thrown at Abbeyville House in Fermoy, a listed building, on 22 November. Abbeyville House was undergoing renovation and adaptation works at the time of the incident.
A letter from the Department of Integration to representatives of Fermoy Municipal Council confirmed the former B&B was due to house up to 56 people seeking international protection.
Anti-immigration protests are ongoing outside the building. Minimal damage occurred, amid some reports in local media that several protesters extinguished the fire.
Site of the old Great Southern Hotel, Rosslare, Wexford, November 2023
The site of the former Great Southern Hotel was the target of a suspected arson attack on 30 November. The site, which was originally set to become a nursing home, was sold in August.
The new owners had agreed with IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) that it would be used as an accommodation centre.
The Department of Integration has said that about 170 asylum-seekers are set to be housed at the site. A forklift truck was damaged in the incident.
A proposed mediation between the developer of the site and a local protest group was due to be held in mid-January but it was decided at a public meeting to postpone any mediation talks until after An Bord Pleanalá has made its decision regarding alleged planning breaches at the site in Rosslare Harbour.
Ross Lake House Hotel, Roscahill, Galway, December 2023
The Ross Lake House Hotel was the target of a suspected arson attack on 16 December. The 13-bedroom building, dating back to 1860, was due to house up to 70 asylum seekers, according to the Department of Integration.
The hotel was largely gutted in a blaze that was condemned by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who said, "there is no justification for violence, arson or vandalism in our Republic. Ever."
Gardaí carried out four searches at properties in the Rosscahill area in January, saying a number of items that will be subject to analysis had been seized.
Convent, Lanesborough, Longford, January 2024
A former convent in Lanesborough, that was set on fire on 16 January, had been earmarked for accommodation for Ukrainian arrivals, according to the Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council.
Fires were lit at two entrances to the building in the late evening but were quickly extinguished soon after.
Minimal damage was caused but the owner of the building subsequently pulled out of the agreement to house up to 85 people.
Michael Nevin of Longford County Council’s Humanitarian Response Team told a meeting of the council that the property’s owner decided on the move "for his own safety" and "his family’s safety."
Leixlip, Kildare, February 2024
A vacant building in Leixlip in Co Kildare was set on fire in the early hours of 7 February.
Gardaí said they were investigating an arson attack at Honeywood, which was substantially damaged in the fire.
They said they have no information on whether the seven-bed bungalow was going to be used to house asylum seekers, but protests were held outside the property and an attempt was made previously to burn it out.
Dublin incidents
The first incident in Dublin believed to be linked to anti-immigration sentiment occurred in Sherrard Street, in Dublin's north inner city.
Sherrard Street, Dublin, January and November 2023
Rawlton House, a long-empty former boys' school built in 1899 on Dublin's Sherrard Street was set on fire on 30 January 2023. The suspected arson attack followed posts on social media that said the building was being set up with "beds and cubicles for refugees."
The Department of Integration at the time said that the building had not at that stage been examined for use to accommodate refugees or international protection applicants.
However, some local representatives said they understood that it was on a list of locations to be considered as potential sites by the department.
In November 2023, four masked men entered the building, which had been renovated after the first fire, and it was set alight again.
Afterwards, concerns were raised by local representatives about the safety of any prospective residents.
Local representatives said their understanding is the site will not be used by the Department of Integration in future.
Prime Time asked the Department of Integration a number of questions to clarify the level of consideration that was given to the use of Rawlton House, but no direct response was provided.
Sandwith Street, Dublin, May 2023
Tents and other items belonging to asylum seekers in a makeshift camp in a laneway on Dublin’s Sandwith Street were set on fire on 12 May 2023. It followed clashes between protesters and counter-protesters, which saw the two groups separated by public order gardaí.
At least one arrest was made in relation to the disturbances under the Public Order Act. After the demonstrations had ended, emergency services were called to the fire in the laneway.
The Irish Refugee Council called for asylum seekers to be taken off the streets with immediate effect following the incident.
Ridge Hall, Ballybrack, Dublin, August 2023
On 14 August, a fire was lit at a large vacant house in Ballybrack, which local representatives said had been offered as a potential location to accommodate people seeking refuge. Gardaí said they were treating the incident at Ridge House as "suspected criminal damage".
Anti-immigration protests had taken place at Ridge Hall in July, and it was reportedly significantly damaged by water because of an earlier disturbance before it was damaged by fire.
Prior to the fire, at least one local representative had written to constituents to say that the building had been offered by the owner to the Department of Integration "as being potentially suitable for females seeking international protection."
Prime Time asked the Department of Integration if the building was ever directly considered for use as accommodation for migrants, but no specific response was provided.
O'Connell Street Upper, Dublin, November 2023
On the night of the Dublin riots, 23 November, a fire was lit at the Holiday Inn Express hotel on O’Connell Street Upper and Cathal Brugha Street.
Posts relating to the fire circulating on Telegram claimed that "migrants" were staying at the hotel.
The Department of Integration told Prime Time it "was not using the premises."
A hostel on nearby Parnell Street which was housing asylum seekers at the time, was also attacked on the night. The front windows of the building were smashed but no fire was lit. In footage of the incident, rioters could be heard saying "we’ll get in on top of these" and that the protestors intended to "light it up."
Finglas, Dublin, November 2023
On the night of the Dublin riots, a fire was lit at premises earmarked for asylum seekers in Finglas. Part of the building which had previously been a shop and a Covid-testing facility was set on fire.
The building was empty when the fire was started.
Attempts to house IPAs in the area sparked a series of anti-immigration protests in January 2023, which - among other locations - targeted Finglas Garda Station and the constituency offices of several local public representatives.
Ringsend, Dublin, December 2023
The former Shipwright Pub in Ringsend, Dublin, was set on fire on New Year’s Eve 2023.
In the lead up to the fire there had been protests amid claims the building was to be used to house people seeking asylum. Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DHRE) said it was instead being renovated to house homeless families.
"I had been hoping to place between 12 and 14 families there from early February," a spokeswoman for the DHRE told RTÉ News at One in the days after the fire. "Not having it is a huge issue," she added.
Gardaí said they were investigating an incident of criminal damage by fire.
Sandyford, Dublin, January 2024
A guesthouse in Sandyford, that was due to host up to 20 IPAs, was set alight on 7 January. It was unoccupied and undergoing renovations at the time.
Prior to the fire, video circulated on TikTok showed builders working at the site being confronted by people who said they were "concerned local parents."
The person filmed around the grounds of the property and claimed the building would be used to house male asylum seekers.
Local councilors told Prime Time that a neighbouring building had been housing 20 female IPAs since October last year and that the building which was set on fire was due to be occupied by 20 more females seeking international protection.
Gardaí said they were investigating the fire.
Brittas/Crooksling, Dublin, February 2024
A former Health Service Executive nursing home in Crooksling near Brittas in county Dublin was set on fire in the early hours of Sunday, 4 February.
Fire crews spent several hours working to contain the fire at St Brigid's Nursing Home.
In the weeks prior, protesters had gathered outside the former nursing home following reports the building would be used to house asylum seekers.
Posts had separately been circulated on social media since mid-January claiming the site "had been marked for plantation" and that the building would "cater for thousands of illegal criminals."
Following the fire, a spokesperson for the Department of Integration said it had undertaken "an assessment" of the property, but that the process was at the "initial stages."
It said the property had "not yet been deemed suitable... nor had it been contracted by the Department."
Protesters told reporters they were devastated by the news of the fire and said they had gathered peacefully for weeks prior.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said in response to news of the incident that he was "very concerned" about "disturbing reports of suspected criminal damage at properties around the country in recent weeks."
Gardaí are investigating.
The Department of Integration told Prime Time that "where An Garda Síochána are already involved, the Department is precluded from commenting as it may prejudice any consequent investigation or court case."
The Department also said it condemned all acts of "intimidation and criminality committed by the small minority who want to sow division in our society."
In a statement to Prime Time, An Garda Síochána said: "Criminal investigations are ongoing into a large number of different potential criminal incidents including arson attacks on buildings."
The statement continued stating that arson is "a very serious offence," carrying a penalty of "up to life imprisonment."
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As a result, the charity, which is one of the largest providers of homeless services in the country, sought and was granted a multi-million euro bailout from the State.
The charity said on Tuesday that it had reached a “successful conclusion” to its recruitment process for the position of chief executive officer.
Mr Mulligan, who will take up the position in mid-April, is currently the national secretary of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
He has worked within the charity sector in the UK and Ireland since 1990, specifically in the areas of addiction, justice, homelessness, HIV and sexual health, suicide prevention and poverty.
He has also held senior management positions Irish charities including the Simon Communities of Ireland, HIV Ireland and Samaritans Ireland.
Welcoming his appointment, Deirdre-Ann Barr, chairwoman of the trust, said: “Niall has a demonstrated a strong track record relevant to the Ethos, Values and work of Peter McVerry Trust including a clear commitment to human rights and social justice. We look forward to working with him.”
Shauna Bowers
Shauna Bowers is a reporter for The Irish Times
Government to crack down on people seeking asylum for 'economic reasons'
https://www.irishexaminer.com/
Government to crack down on people seeking asylum for 'economic reasons'
Integration Minister Roderic O'Gorman said international protection had to be for people fleeing war, conflict and persecution. File picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The Government is to further crack down on the 60% of people who try to seek asylum here without a proper basis for doing so.
Quicker processing times of asylum applications will clamp down on people who do not meet international protection criteria and instead are coming here for economic reasons, Tánaiste Michéal Martin and Integration Minister Roderic O'Gorman have said.
Mr Martin said he accepted concerns around the additional pressure health, education and other services may come under when new asylum centres are opened in communities.
What people want to see is an efficient and effective system here, which we have, to make sure that those who are not entitled to come are dealt with expeditiously.
“But then also that those who are seeking refuge from war and from intolerable oppression and so on, are facilitated,” the Tánaiste said.
Mr O'Gorman added he expected the numbers of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland to fall in the coming weeks when new rules come into force that will reduce supports to just 90 days of State accommodation.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41324602.html
"Arrivals from Ukraine are down and I think when we bring in the new system later on this month, I think we will see that trend continuing," Mr O'Gorman said.
There are now 75,000 Ukrainians living in Ireland, having fled Russia's aggression. The Dáil recently signed off on changes that will see weekly payments to newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees go from €220 to €38.80 when they are staying in State accommodation.
Turning to the wider area of international protection, Mr O'Gorman said the system was not fit for purpose even before the war in Ukraine and uptick in people seeking asylum here from other countries.
The minister is due to bring forward a revised white paper in the coming weeks, which will include provisions to reduce the reliance on private accommodation through building or acquiring large-scale State reception centres.
Asylum seeker arrivals hit 20-year high last month
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there had not been a 'clampdown on immigration', but a 'crackdown on illegal migration'. Picture: PA
The number of asylum seekers who arrived in the State in January hit a new monthly record not seen in over 20 years.
A total of 1,774 people seeking international protection came to the country last month with officials in the Department of Justice confirming that it is the highest monthly figure since 2001 and 2002. This compares to 1,464 people in November and 1,427 in December last year.
According to sources, a meeting of Government officials on Friday was told of last month's “record number”
Justice Minister Helen McEntee added Algeria and Botswana to the ‘safe countries’ list last week and also confirmed that the Government is to begin chartering deportation flights with the aim of starting to fly people back to their country of origin later this year.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told reporters on Friday that he cannot guarantee that there will be a decrease in the numbers of asylum seekers coming in after tougher rules have been imposed.
Mr Varadkar said there had not been a “clampdown on immigration” but a “crackdown on illegal migration”.
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Asked if the latest measures will reduce the numbers of people seeking refuge here this year, Mr Varadkar said: “We can’t say that there’ll be a decrease.
“There are many numbers of factors that drive people to come to Ireland seeking international protection, most of which are outside of our control.”
Officials at Friday’s meeting were also told that the number of Ukrainians coming to Ireland had dropped but has now surged again, ahead of the new rules which will see a cut to social welfare and a 90-day limit on State accommodation.
In a statement issued on Sunday, following another fire at a property earmarked to accommodate asylum seekers, Mr Varadkar said he wants to assure people that the State operates a rules-based immigration system, and applications are being processed in record time.
He said: "All applicants are registered, fingerprinted, checked against certain databases, and the circumstances surrounding their request for protection are examined thoroughly.
“Like much of the world and all of Europe, we are dealing with a major increase in the numbers arriving here irregularly.
"Many, if not most, are fleeing conflict, grinding poverty, climate change, and human rights abuses in their home countries. We have robust border controls, extra checks at airports, and faster processing times."
The reported last week that Government ministers had been informed there was an increase in the number of Ukrainians arriving.
For the seven days to the end of January 28, there were 628 Ukrainians who were offered temporary protection. This compares to 390 for the previous week.
The figures do not specify if Ukrainians who have arrived in Ireland in recent days are coming directly from Ukraine or another EU country.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has also said the rise in the number of Ukrainians arriving here is likely to continue before the new rules come into effect — now likely to be at the end of the month
"We know about 40% of people who go through the international protection system are able to prove that they are being persecuted and they meet the criteria and about 60% of people don't meet those particular criteria."
He said Justice Minister Helen McEntee had made significant changes to streamline the process and has added a number of extra countries to the list of 'safe countries'.
"It is important that we have a system that quickly processes people's applications but maintains that individual examination of a person's situation."
He told RTÉ's Claire Byrne Show international protection had to be for people fleeing war, conflict and persecution.
We know there are people fleeing their country for economic reasons. Irish people did it for generations, and it's happening elsewhere as well. I don't judge anybody for doing that.
"I don't judge anybody for wanting to make a better life for themselves. But if they're coming to Ireland, there are other mechanisms in terms of work permits and the like."
Mr O'Gorman said it was now very important to provide the gardaí with the "space" to fully investigate recent arson attacks so they can prosecute those who carry out criminal acts on buildings rumoured to be earmarked for asylum seekers.
"I'm confident that An Garda Síochána are putting in place the full resources that they need to fully investigate and bring forward successful prosecutions."
Government may move to cut social welfare for all Ukrainians in State-accommodation 'down the road'
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said that there may be a decision made to reduce social welfare payments to all Ukrainian refugees, 'regardless of what date they arrived'. Picture: Julien Behal Photography
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has said the Government may move to cut social welfare for all Ukrainians in State-accommodation “down the road”.
Speaking in the Dáil, Ms Humphreys said that there may be a decision made to reduce social welfare payments to all Ukrainian refugees, “regardless of what date they arrived”.
This week, the Dáil voted to cut welfare payments to new arrivals from Ukraine, with 108 TDs voting in favour of the legislation compared to 15 against.
As part of the plans, weekly payments to newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees will go from €220 to €38.80, once the legislation passes through the Seanad and is signed by the President.
The new rules will also see the Government introduce a 90-day time limit for Ukrainian refugees staying in State accommodation.
Ms Humphreys said that there are lots of people coming from Ukraine who have secured their own accommodation since arriving in Ireland.
“People have to take responsibility for themselves and decide that if they are going to stay in Ireland, then they will either have to get a job, find their own accommodation or move on,” Ms Humphreys said.
She added that while they are in State accommodation, they will be supported in both finding employment and sourcing private accommodation, either in the private rental market or through the Red Cross house pledge scheme.
The social protection minister also said that it is “impossible” to predict whether or not the new 90-day housing policy will increase homelessness in Ukrainian refugees.
“What we do know is that a no-change policy carries risk given current accommodation constraints in Ireland and the challenges of continuing to source accommodation, in light of migratory pressures and crisis situations,” Ms Humphreys told the Dáil.
“The present policy of support does not align with other member states or incentivise independence or integration into communities.”
As part of the new plans, newly-arrived Ukrainians are due to stay within set accommodation centres.
The first of these are due to be located in Stradbally in Co Laois and Ballyogan in Dublin.
Once Ukrainian refugees leave the State accommodation, they will be able to claim higher levels of social welfare, if they qualify.
Ukrainian refugees will also be entitled to full child benefit payments while in State accommodation.
Surge in number of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland in last week
The increase in numbers will intensify pressure on government to continue to find accommodation for those fleeing the war.
There has been a surge in the number of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland in recent days ahead of the State’s impending new 90 day accommodation rule.
Fresh figures reveal for the seven days to the end of January 28, there were 628 Ukrainians offered temporary protection. This compares to 390 for the previous week.
The increase in numbers will intensify pressure on the Government to continue to find accommodation for those fleeing the war. The figures do not specify if Ukrainians who have arrived in Ireland in recent days are coming directly from Ukraine or another EU country.
It is expected the new rules which will see newly arrived Ukrainians offered 90 days in State accommodation before they have to find their own place to live as well as a cut to social welfare from €232 to €38.80 will come into force in early February.
The plan was to stem the flow of the number of secondary movements from Ukrainians who are in other EU countries.
When asked at the time if the new rules would see a spike in Ukrainians travelling to Ireland, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman said previous discussion of the new rules didn’t increase but he couldn’t make a prediction.
However, it appears now the impending new rules have led to a surge in the number of Ukrainians coming to Ireland before they take effect.
It comes after Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman told the most recent Cabinet sub-committee on Ukraine that his department intends to pause the offers portal for future commercial offers given “sufficient vacancies” trends in arrivals and departures and change in government policy.
He told the meeting departures from accommodation for Ukrainians are increasing and were at 47 per day on average earlier this month. Reasons for departure included seeking independent accommodation, returning to Ukraine and travelling elsewhere.
However, those plans may be shelved given the recent spike in new arrivals in the past 7 days.
The increase in Ukrainians is on top of the 1,700 international protection applicants (IPAs) that have arrived into the country in recent weeks.
Updated figures from the Department of Integration today also show 758 asylum seekers have not been offered State accommodation.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee added Algeria and Botswana to Ireland's list of "safe countries". It means that applicants for IPAs from those two nations will have their cases decided within a maximum of 90 days.
However, they have a right to appeal the decision and Ms McEntee said those on the safe list should have their appeal heard and a further decision made within five months.
From tomorrow, Botswana and Algeria will be designated safe countries of origin to claim international protection in the state.
The existing list of safe countries includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and South Africa.
The addition of Algeria, specifically, is seen as significant as it accounts for over 3,100 of those seeking international protection in Ireland. According to the most recent figures, Botswana accounts for 746.
It comes as the Government is "sounding out" whether charter flights can be used in order to remove those who have failed in asylum applications.
A tender posted on Tuesday says that the Office of Government Procurement, on behalf of the Department of Justice, "wishes to take soundings from the market as to its capacity to provide Charter Flights and Associated Support Services for the purpose of Removal Operations".
The tender does not set out a cost.
Government considering charter flights to remove failed asylum applicants
The tender does not set out a cost.
The Government is "sounding out" whether charter flights can be used in order to remove those who have failed in asylum applications.
A tender posted on Tuesday says that the Office of Government Procurement, on behalf of the Department of Justice, "wishes to take soundings from the market as to its capacity to provide Charter Flights and Associated Support Services for the purpose of Removal Operations".
People traffickers are collecting passports ‘on the plane’ into Ireland, Taoiseach tells Dáil
People traffickers are collecting passports ‘on the plane’ into Ireland, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tells Dáil
People traffickers are collecting passports "on the plane" when smuggling asylum seekers into Ireland, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.
But Leo Varadkar also insisted that the number of paperless arrivals into Dublin Airport was falling, and that most International Protection applicants were crossing the border from Northern Ireland.
"It's not always the case that people destroy their documents. We don't find destroyed documents in bins or in bathrooms (at Dublin Airport)," he told Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath.
"What happens is they're trafficked into the country and the person who trafficks them takes the IDs off them at a certain point – probably while they're still on the plane."
The Government was doing everything it can to crack down on trafficking, he said, and "people are being sent back all the time.".
He added: "There will be increasing checks on people coming off the planes, and not just at border control. We are liaising with airlines to make sure that their staff are properly trained.
"We have fines which we impose on airlines if they allow people onto aircraft who are undocumented and we are seeing a reduction in the number of undocumented people coming through Dublin Airport.
"But we estimate and believe, based on evidence, that the majority of people who seek international protection in Ireland come across the border from North to South.
"And I don't think anyone's suggesting that we close the border. And of course, they go in the other direction too."
Mr Varadkar said 40pc of people who apply for international protection are granted it, which was not far off half the total.
"So we need to bear in mind when people see a group of migrants coming into the country that roughly half of them are determined by our system deserving of international protection.
"It's not a small minority. It's 40pc – and that's why we need to make sure that we assess every application fairly."
If somebody comes to an airport without documents, they are sent back, which happens continuously, the Taoiseach said.
However, if they apply for international protection they are allowed to have their application heard fairly.
He told Mr McGrath: "You're suggesting that we leave the United Nations, exempt ourselves from international law, and become some sort of hermit kingdom. That's just not common sense."
Mr McGrath said however that the Taoiseach should receive "a gold medal for disseminating disinformation and downright lies".
He was told by the Ceann Comhairle that he could not charge anyone in the House with lying.
Leitrim council issues proceedings over plan to house asylum seekers in hotel – The Irish Times