Longford's refugee housing plans is 'bridge too far'

There are mounting fears that long sought after plans to bring a skate park to Longford town could be railroaded by a government move to build dozens of modular homes for displaced Ukrainian refugees.

Local politicians, led by councillors Peggy Nolan and Gerry Warnock have registered disquiet at talk that Longford's former greyhound track could be utilised as a greenfield site to house young Ukrainian families in need of emergency accommodation.
It comes after the Leader revealed last week how the seven acre site, despite being zoned for recreational use, was the preferred site of government bosses to construct modular homes for Ukrainian refugees.

Cllr Nolan hit out at the revelations, saying two other sites located at Connolly Barracks and Abbeycatron were simply the “low hanging fruit” which had been chosen to ease the county's ongoing humanitarian woes.
Her Independent colleague, Cllr Gerry Warnock has gone a step further by setting up an online petition to try and force government chiefs into a rethink.

“Only last year we completed the statutory process of adopting our County Development Plan 2021-2027 and we succeeded in retaining the Recreational Zoning of the site to protect a part of town with an existing proliferation of housing from further residential development and ensure the future use of the site would be for sporting and recreational enjoyment,” he said.

The petition has so far managed to secure over 500 signatures with plans afoot to hold a public meeting on the issue.
“Let me be clear, this objection is not anti-refugee. Longford has always done its part in responding to the various refugee crisis and we will continue to do so,” he said.

“This objection is pro-local democracy; pro-local community; pro-local decision making, but anti-centralisation of power to a government who has shown zero respect for the communities and local democratic institutions who are and always have been the bedrock of this State.