A Tipperary councillor is seeking changes to the current process as regards accommodating International Protection Applicants.
Nenagh based Independent Councillor Seamus Morris submitted a motion for the December meeting of the full 40-member plenary Tipperary Council.
The motion was approved and has now been forwarded to An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the International Protection Office, the Ministers for Justice, Foreign Affairs, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth which is directly responsible for finding accommodation for Refugees and Asylum seekers.
The motion approved on December 11th calls on the International Protection Office or the relevant ministers to cease the movement of Asylum seekers into towns and villages without first of all contacting local councils to see if the facilities for such persons are in place and if the proposed building offered for the asylum seekers are suitable.
The motion, which was prompted by the recent situation in Cashel when a Hostel used by the council for Emergency Accommodation for homeless persons was to be used solely to accommodate 74 asylum seekers, also asks that contact with the council should happen when the building is first offered and that the local council should be part of the decision-making process.
Cllr Morris says that this approach would address the information deficit in the current decision making process.
