BREAKING: Officials to meet with residents over Kildare refugee centre plan

Community representatives in Kill will be asked by the Department of Children Equality Disability Integration and Youth to attend a meeting to discuss proposals to house refugees at the former Kill Equestrian Centre site - as gardaí appeal for information about a fire there.

The proposal sparked anger among residents who said that vital services like education and medical care could not be expected to cope with the arrival some 350 people to the town.

Some residents have been staging demonstrations at the entrance to the site, which was partly damaged in a fire which took place over a week ago and soon after plans for the conversion of the centre came to light.

The blaze was confined to a shed on the site and happened when scaffolding planks went on fire.

Firefighters attended the scene and a garda investigation got underway to establish how it started.

Since then some local people have been taking part in sporadic protests at the site which is close to a residential area.

Mayor of Kildare Fintan Brett has been  critical of the lack of information forthcoming from the government about the proposal but welcomed the fact that residents will be briefed - as early as this evening (November 15).

He said that most of the community will be “happy enough” if those moving into the centre are war refugees from Ukraine.

“I spoke to a representative from the Minister’s (Roderic O’Gorman) office and they have agreed to meet community representatives from Kill,” said Cllr Brett.

Last week a DCEDIY statement said those living there would be families (mothers, fathers and children) and “the vast majority of those seeking refuge from Ukraine are in this category and this is where the greatest accommodation need arises.” It added that talks are ongoing at this time so “it's not possible to provide further information.”

The statement added: “Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive immediately afterwards, over 54,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine and have sought refuge here in Ireland. Approximately 43,000 of those are being provided with accommodation from the state. This is by some distance the largest humanitarian operation ever undertaken by the Irish state." 

It also said in the context of this crisis, the state is availing of all offers of accommodation made, including the temporary use of non-residential buildings, in order to address the accommodation shortfall.

However one resident told Kildare Now “The government and its councillors are throwing the rules they created in the mud just so they can have a feel good factor about doing good for the Ukrainians however with complete and utter disregard for the people that live in these small villages.”

The resident claimed: “We need our voices heard, we need a spotlight on injustice, a small village winner of tidy towns, a village with one shop, zero Garda presence, no crèche availability and general overcrowding now feels under pressure by the government to accept this situation.”

Another resident claimed the centre was granted planning on the basis of being a sports centre with limited staff accommodation. “This refugee centre falls well outside the parameters of its original planning and has no basis for being used as a refugee residential centre. To increase the population of the village by over 10% in one go is irresponsible. The current infrastructure cannot possibly cope with this,” the resident alleged.