A local County Councillor has hit out at the lack of affordable housing being build in Laois, homelessness in the county, and the growing number of asylum seekers entering Laois.
Sinn Féin Cllr, Aidan Mullins was speaking at the most recent meeting of Laois County Council earlier this week, where the Council were examining the figures arising from the Monthly Management Report.
“Could we look at the minimum targets set by the Government for County Laois?” Cllr Mullins probed.
“38 units over five years – to me, that’s an admission of failure by the Department.
“There’s a large cohort of people being ignored here, and to suggest that 38 units is sufficient is just laughable, it really is.
“The other issue we need to confront is our own homeless figures, where we have seven families and thirteen single persons homeless – that could be 30 to 40 people.
“We’re clapping ourselves on the back for constructing 42 modular homes in Rathdowney for people coming from Ukraine – and I’ve said all along, I support that, because that is an emergency situation.
“But the Government is refusing to call our housing situation ‘an emergency,’ they call it ‘a crisis,’ because if they call it an emergency it’s going to trigger a different response.
“So, they’re cowardly, running away from it; it’s an emergency – except when we’re talking about our own people on the housing lists.
“Then it’s a crisis, and you deal with it differently, so you can’t bypass planning laws and build modular homes – and I do not understand why we’re not doing that here.
“And I don’t care what anyone says to me about this – that I’m creating divisions – it’s us versus them – that’s not the case.
“And I don’t care if I’m excoriated or somebody jumps all over me for saying this, because there’s an issue here that we need to confront – and while a lot of people are saying it, most people will not speak it.
“It’s a question of when we hit our capacity to handle people coming into this country, whether they’re refugees or asylum seekers.
“And whether it’s today or in a yer’s time, the time does come when you hit your capacity. There is a limit – I think we’ve hit that limit.
“The Department has commenced engaging with the Council under which 102 Syrian refugees will be relocated and housed in County Laois next year.
“Where are we going to house them? But I guarantee you, they will be housed.
“And then we wonder why somebody comes to say ‘how come there’s an arrangement for people coming into the country, as opposed to people on the housing list. That’s the reality.
“You might not be happy with me saying this, but I get it daily.
“Portarlington is a dumping ground for asylum seekers, that’s what I’m being told.
“The local hotel, closed down pubs, closed hair dressers, the developers buying up private houses and outbidding locals trying to get on the property market.
“They’re in private houses in estates around the town; it’s been saturated – and I don’t care who comes down on me for saying this – that is a fact.
“There’s no spotlight on the homeless in this (Monthly Management) report here today, none. The spotlight is on the people we have to look after.
“We have 750 in tents – horrible conditions; nobody should be in those conditions. We’ve hit capacity; we don’t have houses, we don’t have hotels, we don’t have guest houses.
“The Sunday Business Post opinion poll recently on this issues: over 75% of those polled felt that we had taken too many refugees.
“So it’s not me being radical here or far right, people are looking around and they’re seeing the impact of the huge numbers coming in on a daily and weekly basis.
“Some say (certain) countries of origin shouldn’t even be processed, like Georgia. There’s Georgians in Portarlington in emergency accommodation and they’re working full-time.
“We’re paying for their accommodation, we’re feeding them, we’re giving them medical cards – and they’re working full time. It’s not on.
“I’m tired of people coming to me complaining about this, and nobody is voicing their concerns. Nobody.”
There was silence in the chamber as neither Council staff nor the other Councillors present addressed Cllr Mullins’ concerns.
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