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Vulnerable asylum seekers need to be moved out - NASC

Refugees have been located in Drishane Convent near Millstreet and the Riverside Park Hotel in Macroom

Concubhar Ó Liatháin
© Corkman

Vulnerable asylum seekers in emergency accommodation in centres in Macroom, Millstreet and throughout Ireland should be moved to self isolation facilities, the Department of Justice has been urged by a group advocating on their behalf.

The announcement this week that a pilot self isolation unit had been set up by the Department of Justice to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers was welcome didn't go far enough according to Fiona Finn, the Chief Executive of NASC, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre.

Refugees have been located in Drishane Convent near Millstreet and the Riverside Park Hotel in Macroom.

"The 'Move the Vulnerable Out' campaign came from the legitimate fears and worries expressed by residents in direct provision centres to us and from the advice of medical and public health experts," she said.

"Asylum seekers don't believe that they are safe as it's impossible for them to follow public health advice to social distance while they are in the centres."

A doctor speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 this week raised serious concerns about the availability of a 'pilot self isolation unit' as this should be available to them all.

According to Dr. Clíodhna Ní Chealaigh, "the setting of direct provision in which there are multiple people living in the same room, sharing a bedroom, and in which there are large numbers of people congregating to eat meals is just asking for trouble".

NASC CEO Fiona Finn added that residents in the centres were hearing the messages from the public health experts, the announcements of restrictions on social gatherings of four people or more not from the same household by An Taoiseach but they didn't know how "to square this with sharing bathrooms or bedrooms with several others, and kitchens and canteens with dozens of others".

"Many residents are healthcare workers themselves, they want to support the hospital and other emergency staff who are working non-stop.

"They've been told that the best way to do this is to practice social distance, but it is physically impossible for many of them to do so."

Ms Finn said she wanted to thank healthcare staff, including local HSE Inclusion Units for their Herculean work to keep us all safe in the past few weeks.

"We believe that we need to listen to their expertise so we will continue to urge the Minister for Justice' to 'Move the Vulnerable Out'.

"We won't flatten the curve if we allow COVID-19 to spread throughout the centres.

"If we are truly all in this together then urgent action is needed now."