Minister seeks 'resolution' on Athlone asylum seeker centre

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has offered to meet with local elected representatives in a bid to work out a “mutually acceptable resolution” to concerns over plans to accommodate 1,000 male asylum seekers in the town.

It comes after local councillors voiced their strong opposition to the Ministerial order establishing a new temporary accommodation facility at Lissywollen.

In correspondence seen by the Westmeath Independent, Minister Roderic O'Gorman said his department wished to ensure that “any and all concerns” held by local elected representatives are “fully aired and reconciled” and invited them to set out their concerns and “potential mitigations” in the interests of seeking a resolution.

The letter went on to say that officials from the Department of Integration and the Community Engagement Team will have the “full support” of the Minister in coming to a “mutually acceptable resolution.”

“I would respectfully request that any further engagement and dialogue between officials of my Department and your officials and the elected representatives be facilitated before any vote on an Order under Section 31 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1948 proceeds,” said the letter from the Minister.

This refers to a plan by members of Athlone Moate Municipal District to use a little-known provision of that act to attempt to block the proposed asylum seeker centre.

It is understood that the letter from Minister O'Gorman was delivered to the offices of Westmeath County Council on Monday morning, in advance of the monthly meeting of the full council at which the asylum seeker accommodation issue was due to be discussed.

In its response to the letter, Westmeath County Council has requested that all construction works at the Lissywollen site “cease with immediate effect” as a sign of good faith while the officials and local elected representatives take up the offer of engaging in discussions with Department officials and the Community Engagement Team.

When the issue came up for discussion at Monday's meeting of the full council, members were advised by Chief Executive, Barry Kehoe, that any consideration in relation to the issue of an Order under Section 31 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1948 is “a matter that can only be dealt with at district level”.

Section 31 of the Act provides for the making of an Order prohibiting the erection or retention of temporary dwellings if elected members are of the opinion that such erection or retention would be “prejudicial to public health or the amenities of the locality or would interfere to an unreasonable extent with traffic on any road”.

Following a unanimous decision of members of Athlone Moate Municipal District at their last meeting to seek to invoke the Order in a bid to halt the building of the temporary asylum seeker accommodation at Lissywollen, it was placed on the agenda for this week's council meeting, but members were advised that it could not be dealt with at council level.

"In the 2014 Local Government Act, the Government specified that any orders that might issue under this legislation must be considered and approved at Municipal District level. So my advice is that this item wouldn't be considered, because the council doesn't have jurisdiction, and that it would be referred to the Municipal District for further consideration," the Chief Executive told members.

The Westmeath Independent understands that elected representatives from the Athlone Moate Municipal District are making preparations to hold a one-off special meeting at which they will formally move an Order under Section 31 of the Local Government (Reform) Act 2014 preventing the Minister from proceeding with the provision of temporary accommodation in Lissywollen, should talks to resolve the crisis fail.

In his letter this week, Minister O'Gorman also reiterated that the site at Lissywollen is intended to be “one of the accommodation centres under the Government approved accommodation strategy”.