'We got soft with our immigration policy - the biggest town in Ireland now has no hotel accommodation'

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman

I have to admit that the Minister for integration Roderic O’Gorman has a tough job.

Trying to find accommodation for over 100,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine and other roque states like Syria or Afghanistan is a difficult task in the middle of a housing and rental crisis.

You don’t want to see these poor people living in tents or homeless on the streets. We have a duty of care as a wealthy nation to do our best to help them.

At the same time the number of those seeking international protection as it is known from so called safe countries like Albania, Georgia and Algiers soared in recent years.

We got soft with our immigration policy in dealing with these people and many were let in when they shouldn’t have been, and the truth is they should have been sent home on the next plane.

They were economic migrants not refugees and if they wanted to live and work here they should have sought and secured a visa or work permit through the normal channels like many others who applied and were granted the right to live here.

In my home town Drogheda we have been living with and integrating foreign nationals into the community for the last 20 years probably more so than any other place in Ireland.

This is largely down to Mosney Refugee Centre in the former Butlins Holiday Camp, in Julianstown, Co Meath, just a few miles out the road.

It was the first place refugees were accommodated under direct provision as it is called when they landed here claiming asylum and they stayed there while their applications were being dealt with.

Thousands of them ended up settling either in Drogheda or Balbriggan and built new lives for themselves and their families.

They were always welcomed in Drogheda and became part and parcel of the local community. There has never been an racial tensions or hatred in the Boyneside town.

From when I was a kid the population has soared from 18,000 in the early seventies to 50,000 largely because of an influx of Dubliners and foreigners.

The Dubs moved down in their thousands since the Millennium and became as local as the locals. Drogheda because of its close access to Dublin, its fabulous history and magnificent beaches has always been a good place to live.

But far more importantly its people have always been kind and welcoming.

The decision by Minister O’ Gorman last week to put 500 refugees into the last remaining hotel open for business in Drogheda, the 113 bedroom D Hotel, caused outrage locally.

The anger had nothing to do with such a large number of refugees coming but the fact the last hotel was to be effectively closed from the public.

This meant because all the other hotels in the area are being used for refugees there is nowhere for tourists or business people to stay if they come to Drogheda.

It also meant if families had visitors coming from abroad where would they stay?

There was nothing racist in the objections. Everyone locally felt the move by Minister O Gorman and his officials was economically damaging to Drogheda and would result in job losses with restaurants and cafes closing as a result.

The anger was also inflamed because there was no consultations whatsoever about the decision beforehand or no thought given as to how it might affect Drogheda. The town’s three TDs were only informed when the 25 million euro two year deal was signed.

I spoke to everyone of our three local TDs and they were all shocked by the arrogance and naivety shown by the Minister and his officials.

Because the Minister and his officials didn’t give a damn about Drogheda so long as they got the beds they needed for the refugees.

And the Minister and his officials didn’t care that the biggest town in Ireland now had no hotel accommodation even though Drogheda has been looking after over 2,000 refugees already.

As Fergus O’Dowd said Drogheda has been doing its fair share and the burden needs to be shared fairly across the country.

Sadly it is not and so far I have yet to see any refugees in Dalkey, Killiney, Dun Laoghaire, Ballsbridge, Malahide, Clontarf, Sandymount or any other posh part of Dublin.

It seems to be one rule for the elite areas of our society when it comes to helping these poor people and none for the rest.

The Taoiseach is not promising to intervene in the Drogheda row. He believes at least half of the beds should be made available for tourists and rightly so.

But he should also consider a 10 to 15 million aid package for Drogheda Town Centre which has been in decline over the last decade plus three tax free licences to encourage new hotels to be built in the vicinity.

The local schools and health services will also need financial assistance to look after the refugees. The Drogheda people did themselves proud and showed great restraint over the past week.

A few hundred turned up for a protest at the weekend which sadly had been hijacked by the Irish Freedom Party and members of the far right. It could easily have been a few thousands but sense prevailed because the event was not organised by locals.

My kids who are now adults grew up in schools with children whose parents arrived here from all over the world. They always said it was a great thing.

These same people have been a contribution to Drogheda. When you walk across the main street, West Street it is very much a multicultural society now.

We have nothing to fear for what the Brits once called Johnny Foreigner. In fact we will need more and more of them to work here.

I hope Roderic O’Gorman will have a second look at his D Hotel deal. He can not take the good nature of the Drogheda people for granted and should do the right thing.

We can find other places for those refugees in Drogheda but not in our main hotel.

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