MINISTER JOE O’BRIEN has welcomed the decision of the residents of Inch, in Co Clare, to remove a blockade they set up in protest outside of an asylum seeker centre. 

The Junior Integration Minister met with locals in the area on Thursday, when he made reassurances that no more asylum seekers will be housed in holiday homes at Magowna House for the next month. 

“My meeting with the residents was an honest open discussion and I am pleased that that engagement has helped bring some improvement to the situation. 

“I look forward to working with the provider and my officials to develop a programme of education, training, and other supports for the people residing in Magowna House,” O’ Brien said. 

Locals who blockaded the hotel this week said that they were not consulted on asylum seekers being moved into the area, and that they did not believe that the accommodation would be suitable for them, or that they would have good connections to local facilities and services. 

On Wednesday, migrant support groups expressed outrage after protestors reportedly boarded a bus with asylum seekers on board and conducted a head count. 

On Monday evening, a bus carrying over 30 asylum seekers arrived at the hotel in Inch. 

Local people then blockaded both ends of the hotel road with tractors. 

Several male asylum seekers ended up leaving the area, bags in arm, as a result of the protest. 

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has made repeated calls this week for the blockade in Inch to end, but he also cautioned against dismissing the “genuine concerns” of local communities around the international protection system. 

Opposition leaders, including Holly Cairns of the Soc Dems, have called for an improved communications strategy to be put in place so communities that are to house asylum seekers are aware beforehand. 

In a recent appearance on the Late Late Show, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that there does need to be improved communications with communities, but that at times this is difficult because of the possibilities of protests. 

Equality and Integration Minister Roderic O’ Gorman announced on Thursday that three new centres for asylum seeker would open in Santry, Clondalkin and Dún Laoghaire, and that 350 beds were supposed to come on stream last week. 

The measures were announced by the Government after an anti-immigration protest saw the tents of asylum seekers set on fire on Friday of last week.