- guardian.co.uk, Sunday April 30 2000 00.25 BST
Residents of Glogheen (population 400) were protesting against the government's decision to house 40 asylum seekers in their village. Earlier last week, when the news first leaked out, there was an arson attack on the hotel where the refugees are to live. Several rooms were damaged. Not exactly Ireland of the Welcomes.
This is the latest of a series of angry protests which are causing serious alarm, as the Irish government struggles to cope with growing numbers of asylum seekers and economic migrants. This is a new phenomenon. In the past Ireland has been more accustomed to export its people looking for a chance of a better life.
Now the success of the 'Celtic tiger' economy is attracting thousands of people, mainly from Africa and Eastern Europe, to seek a new start in Ireland. Official sources in Dublin say that this year 1,000 people a week are arriving and that there is a backlog of nearly 15,000 applications for asylum.
The government's directorate of asylum services has been pathetically ill-equipped to handle this. In recent months the number of officials dealing with refugees has been increased from 22 to 300, but the general impression remains that policy is being created on the hoof and that the government is failing to explain its decisions.
The most immediate problem is housing the newcomers. John O'Donoghue, the Minister for Justice, said yesterday: 'We can't have these people sleeping on the streets.'
The government, alarmed at the growing concentration of refugees in Dublin and other large cities, has introduced a policy of dispersal. This means finding accommodation, often at very short notice, in villages where there are hotels, hostels and even sites for mobile homes.
In theory this makes reasonable sense. Many of these places are in tourist areas and empty in the winter. Their owners are happy to house refugees at the state's expense. But there has been a woeful lack of consultation with local people about the numbers involved or the services needed. There has also been little attempt to mobilise the sort of local leadership - in the churches or on councils - that might help to calm the situation.
Last week the media was full of accounts of angry protest meetings in small towns and villages across rural Ireland, though there have been objections to plans for hostels by residents in much richer suburbs of Dublin. Partly these express a fear of the unknown and many of the comments are openly racist. But there have also been more reasonable questions about the education of refugee children in local schools, the extra burden on small hospitals and so on.
For the refugees themselves the situation is even more frightening. All too often groups of people, comprising several different nationalities and unable to speak English, have found themselves housed in remote rural areas with little or no social contact with the local community.
The government's decision to replace social welfare benefits with 'direct provision' has not helped. In effect this means giving refugees full board and lodging with £15 a week as pocket money. This has led to problems acquiring familiar foods and other necessities, such as disposable nappies. Even more demoralising has been the way it has isolated refugees with other members of their own community, since even a telephone call, let alone a rail trip, to Dublin can only be got for cash.
These policies have been condemned by human rights organisations. The government defends them on the ground that Ireland must be seen to be at least as tough as Britain, to deter would-be asylum seekers from coming here. Politicians are fearful of taking on the issue which is seen as a vote loser.
There are also more hopeful signals emerging. On Wednesday four Catholic bishops issued a statement appealing for more a compassionate attitude to refugees and better treatment of those who are already here.
Two weeks ago a public meeting was held in Dublin and was packed to overflowing. Members of the audience expressed grave alarm at the thrust of the government's policy.
More important, perhaps, there have been accounts of initiatives being taken at local level to provide much needed support. English classes for adults, playgroups for children, legal help, all these were being provided on a voluntary basis in some places.
There is hardly a family in Ireland which has not had direct experience of emigration, with sons and daughters travelling to the United States and other countries, often illegally, in search of work. Irish governments have lobbied shamelessly for more generous visa allocations for these youngsters.
There is a growing feeling that perhaps the time has come to pay back some of the debt we owe to others.
U2's Bono put it well when the freedom of the City of Dublin was conferred on the band recently. He told his cheering audience that we must never forget 'we're a nation of refugees'.
