Borrisokane community continue the fight for local families facing eviction

In recent weeks, Borrisokane Liaison Committee has put pedal to the metal to try to help members of their local community who are facing eviction.

20 families living in the Riverside Apartments direct provision accommodation were informed earlier this year that they were being evicted with the first ten families potentially having to leave this month.

The reason they are facing eviction is that they have been given “Leave to Remain” status. This means they no long hold refugee status or subsidiary protection and are no longer entitled to live in housing provided by International Protection Accomodation Services (IPAS) because they have been granted permission to stay in Ireland.

However, the families are hoping to stay in the accommodation they have been living in as they have tried and failed to find alternative accommodation in the area. These families are members of local clubs, go to local schools and have local jobs. The Borrisokane community are firmly backing their cause as they have become their friends and a real part of the local community.

The Borrisokane Liaison Committee, who are leading the campaign to help this community, were aiming to meet with representatives from the Department of Justice and the Department of Integration last week in Nenagh to discuss and remind them of the initial terms of the Riverside centre agreement.

The meeting, arranged by Tipperary Council Executive and Cllr Joe Hannigan, saw the Liaison Committee joined by several local councillors in the Nenagh Civic Offices last week but Department of Justice representatives failed to show up which meant the meeting was unable to be held.

In a statement, the Borrisokane Liaison Committee expressed their disappointment:

“We feel let down by departments who were first in the door in 2019 when they wanted us to work with them, now they are avoiding us because we stand alone with our agreement that we worked so hard to obtain in the first place!

“We the Liaison Committee along with the Elected Representatives of the Nenagh Municipal Area, its executive, Department of Justice Principal Officer, dept representatives and the property Management spent three long days in the Civic Offices in Nenagh thrashing out an agreement that could and indeed did make sure that the then asylum seekers were given a warm welcome by our community to be fully integrated as this was a strong request by both the Department and our Committee on behalf of the wider community. We are proud to say this has been a huge success. We have been lauded and applauded the length of the country for our approach.

“We insisted on families only, agreement was reached for 16 families only which was honoured by all parties.

“An integral part of our agreement is that if and when these families got their status they would be allowed to continue to live in the Riverside Centre be it under HAP or private rental payment if they so desired.

“10K radius of our town was to be free of any direction provision centres, in order to achieve full integration. Again this has been fully acknowledged and honoured by all parties. This is very evident in our day to day community life.

“We negotiated and agreed that to help our mutual goal of long term integration a package would be provided by the Department. This benefited our local sports groups and projects in our town. Again acknowledgement of our agreement.

“In July 2020 the number of families was increased from 16 families to 20 after we were approached by the property company, again acknowledgement of the agreement in place. Please note the Borrisokane Liaison Committee reserve the right to revert to 16 families this has also been signed and acknowledged by all involved.

“It must be noted that this agreement was signed off by a then senior official of the Dept of Justice on behalf of all parties involved.

“This is our agreement – It must be honoured by all parties including the Government!

“At our meeting in 2019 we had an element of the far right who told a packed hall that we were being sold a pup by the Government and should not allow any asylum seekers into our community. We disregarded these comments and agreed with the aforementioned parties on a plan and a vison that would see and ensure full integration and success of asylum seekers coming into our community.

“Surely after achieving this we are not going to allow those words on that night to be correct?”

Although, the meeting may not have gone as planned, the week was not all bad news for the Borrisokane community as it was announced that the residents of the Riverside Centre had received pause notices on their eviction. Committee member, Margaret Donnelly, posted the news on social media saying: “It is with huge joy that we can announce that the residents of Borrisokane Riverside Centre have received pause notices on their eviction from the Riverside Centre.

“The residents deeply appreciate and value all of the support that has been given to them over not only the last number of months but since the day they arrived here in Borrisokane almost five years ago.

“We are still determined to ensure that the full written agreement that we have is still honoured and continue the battle.”

Tipperary TD, Michael Lowry, welcomed the news saying: “This has been a good news story since 2019. This reprieve on eviction is very welcome, but the uncertainty remains, not only for the town’s newest families but also for the local community who have stood firmly beside them.

“They believed that the agreement reached five years ago was binding and they placed their trust in it. Now they are left feeling uncertain and disillusioned.”

At the meeting in June, Cllr Joe Hannigan explained the original agreement made when the group of asylum seekers moved in was that “when and if (the property group) were to house asylum seekers, that these people were to be allowed to stay if they assimilated well into the community”.

The fear if this doesn’t happen, the group in the Riverside Centre will be separated from their community and friends and moved to other areas around the country, away from their schools, their jobs and what they now know as their home.