Members of Mayo County Council have unanimously passed a motion calling on the staff of the local authority to immediately cease all cooperation with the Government department responsible for housing of refugees in Mayo.
The standing orders at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council were suspended to allow a debate on the motion, which was prompted by protests in Ballinrobe and Castlemacgarrett near Claremorris over the possible arrival of International Protection applicants.
The cross-party motion which was passed at this week's meeting of the local authority stated that 'all co-operation ceases immediately, between the staff of Mayo County Council and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth of Ireland, until such time as an agreed strategy is put in place to properly co-ordinate the provision of additional services for the communities hosting refugees and international protection applicants'.
The motion was proposed by Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who said that people were concerned and that councillors had no say in who arrived in the county and where they stayed.
The motion was seconded by Fianna Fáil councillor Damien Ryan, who told the meeting that communities will play their part, but at the moment there was no strategy in place.
An amendment to the motion set down by Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn, which was agreed by all sides, stated: ‘Mayo County Council requests the Irish Government to revoke the European Union (Planning and Development) (Displaced Persons from Ukraine Temporary Protection) Regulations 2022’ and that ‘Mayo County Council encourages government to utilise lands where planning permission has been granted but no works have taken place to erect modular or prefabricated housing for the accommodation needs of refugees fleeing wars and Irish people requiring affordable accommodation’.
Kevin Kelly, Chief Executive of Mayo County Council told the meeting that the reason there were a lot of refugees arriving in Mayo was because property was being made available to house them.
He added that when it comes to government policy, he does not have the leeway to ignore it, but he said he would forward the motion to the relevant government minister.
