No consultation a kick in the face of local communities – Kilkenny councillor

Councillor Andrew McGuinness has slammed International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) for their lack of consultation with local communities as rumours of an accommodation centre on the Dublin Road circulate.

The provision of accommodation and related services to people in the International Protection (‘asylum’) process is the responsibility of IPAS who, Cllr McGuinness says, have ‘little or no respect for local residents living in areas where accommodation centres are being established’.

A unit on the Dublin Road that also backs onto Maudlin Street is currently being refurbished to accommodate either Ukrainians or IPAS applicants or both according to Cllr McGuinness. It is said that up to 28 people will be accommodated there. Local residents have so far been given no official information.

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“The fact that such a large building is currently being converted into an accommodation centre with no information given to local residents and no consultation process in place, is a slap in the face to the local communities here in the St Johns Parish,” said Cllr. McGuinness.

“Residents on the Dublin Road, Maudlin Street, Lacken Drive and up as far as Altamount and Shandon Park, have contacted me in recent weeks with queries about this building because the only information they have is rumour and word of mouth. No official information has been published at all. Our office has requested information but as of yet there is no response from IPAS other than an ack. That is a huge lack of respect for the local community who should be the first to know about something happening in their area,” he said.

“Green Minister Roderic O’Gorman also has a lot to answer for here in terms of the lack of communication with local residents and indeed elected representatives like myself who have not been given any information either and Id call on him to step up and deal with this in a transparent manner,” he said.

“This development is private and not a Kilkenny County Council project. While the developer would rely on the planning process as a way of consulting with the local community, IPAS should take responsibility to engage with local residents also, but, like every other accommodation centre that IPAS are involved with in Kilkenny, no consultation has taken place which I find disgraceful and shows a complete lack of respect, not only for local communities and elected local representatives, but also for the potential tenants of these centres. Its simply not good enough.

“In my opinion, Kilkenny has already put its shoulder to the wheel in terms of doing our bit in this crisis. We have went above and beyond but there has to come a point where we have done enough and where we are at capacity, and I believe we have reached that point. If agencies like IPAS have such little respect for us, even after doing so much already, that they wont even consult with us, then they are making it impossible for anybody to have trust in them. In my view, this development is simply not suitable for that location, especially with no consultation with the local community,” concluded Cllr. Andrew McGuinness.