Community groups have been set up to volunteer services in the face of official inaction and an increasingly hostile atmosphere
Lismore for All volunteer group members with some of the town's asylum seekers in Millennium park in Lismore. Photograph: Mary Browne
Jermyn and her friend drove the hour to the Cork University Hospital emergency department before driving another hour back to Lismore in Co Waterford.Look inside: Shrewsbury Road Edwardian used for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman film for €12.5m“She was exhausted when we picked her up – she had very little English and had never met us before,” says Jermyn.
Lismore for All was established in spring 2023 following pushback against the accommodation of asylum seekers in the local hotel. The group “came about out of a reaction to the demonstrations and abuse being thrown around outside the centre while coaches were arriving with women and children”, says local activist Chris O’Connell.
Like other Dublin volunteers interviewed by The Irish Times, she does not feel it’s safe any more to be named “in the national media that we are helping refugees” Like other Dublin volunteers interviewed by The Irish Times, she does not feel it’s safe any more to be named “in the national media that we are helping refugees”.“We set up Phibsboro For All to encourage wider inclusion in our community. But when it comes to providing for basic needs – tents, tarps, sleeping bags, food – and providing 24-hour vigilance, which puts our safety at risk, that’s definitely not what we’d expect to do.
A member of East Wall for All says the group is dedicated to providing community engagement with asylum seekers but volunteers “shouldn’t be buying toothpaste, hot water bottles and soap for residents”. The Government says the strategy will be published in mid-2025 and that consultations with migrant communities are ongoing. However, without a national policy, there is “no Government guidance on what integration actually means”, says a volunteer and youth worker based in Cork.
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