Residents of new direct provision centre in Donegal welcomed

The first residents of a new direct provision centre in Donegal have been welcomed to their accommodation.

More than a dozen people, including families, arrived at the centre in Letterkenny on Friday.

Members of the Donegal Asylum Seekers Support Group were at the accommodation to welcome the new residents. The group, which is made up of volunteers, has been accepting donations for the new residents from people in the county in recent weeks.

The new residents have moved to the centre at Port Road in Letterkenny from emergency accommodation in Portsalon.

Asylum seekers will also be moving to the former student accommodation from locations around the country. The centre will be able to accommodate up to 60 families.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has signed a contract with Bridgestock Care Ltd to provide accommodation for international protection applicants in 60 apartments at the site.

Independent TD for Donegal Thomas Pringle and Independent senator Eileen Flynn said they hope the people seeking asylum will receive a warm welcome.

“The response from many volunteer support groups and local people has been very warm and extremely positive since the arrival of these families was announced in November. I hope our new Letterkenny neighbours will feel very much at home,” Deputy Pringle said.

Senator Flynn said: “We know ourselves in Donegal how difficult it has been for our own relatives and friends over the years to make a life for themselves in a different country. We can use that understanding to help people settle here and become part of our Donegal community by giving them a warm welcome.

“People from different countries have brought so much to our communities in Donegal,” she said.

Last month the Government published a plan to end direct provision and cease the practice of paying firms to house asylum seekers in former hotels and other communal buildings on a long term basis. Instead, new arrival centres are planned during what is termed a four-month “orientation” phase. At the end of this period applicants will get their own room or own door accommodation in the community which they will have to rent.