*Magowna House. Photograph: John Mangan
TAOISEACH, Simon Harris has said asylum seekers at Magowna House getting two days notice that they were leaving Inch “isn’t at all optimal”.
As first reported by The Clare Echo, 26 male asylum seekers residing in Magowna House were last Tuesday issued with correspondence by the Department of Integration that they were to be moved to two accommodation sites in Dublin.
Since arriving in Co Clare, the men secured employment in Ennis, Inagh and Lahinch. The correspondence from the Department instructed the men to gather “all of their belongings” with “transport arranged to collect them”.
Speaking in Shannon Airport, Taoiseach Simon Harris (FG) admitted he was unaware that the men at Magowna House had received two days notice that they were leaving Co Clare. “I certainly hope the communication is always better than two days notice, I wasn’t aware of that, these are human beings who have fled a war and we have to approach that with compassion, we also have to be truthful in what we can and can’t do”.
He added, “two days isn’t at all optimal and I will follow that up”.
Magowna House was the subject of national attention last May after a group of thirty four male international protection applicants (IPAs) arrived on a bus to the former three star hotel which had been closed since 2019.
This led to locals mounting three blockades in Inch. Magowna House had a planned capacity for 69 residents under a contract between the Department and Cork-based CRM Properties Ltd, which leases the facility. The absence of a fire certificate last May had been questioned by Inch residents.
Due to the presence of the blockades, the story was the main talking point in the country and it was among the questions put to the then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (FG) during the second day of a Council of the Europe Summit in Reykjavik.
Blockades had been mounted at Magowna House, Magowna Cross and Magowna Hill on a twenty-four hour basis across six days. The around the clock protest ended after proposals from the Junior Minister for Integration, Joe O’Brien (GP) were accepted by Inch residents. In what was an unprecedented step, the Junior Minister travelled to Ennis to meet with a delegation of the Inch locals that were protesting.
Among the agreements were to pause any further arrivals pending mediation between the people of Inch and men residing at Magowna House. This never took place while the signs reading ‘peaceful protest in place’ remained in place.
