A public meeting has taken place in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, at which people highlighted a wide range of issues they said have been impacting the town.
The public meeting was organised by local Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy following what he described as an "unprecedented level of unease" in the town in recent weeks.
The 200 seats in the function room at the Shirley Arms Hotel in the town were all filled while the meeting also spilled out into the hotel foyer.
The issues of migration and what was being done to address people's concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour were raised by the floor on several occasions.
However, those in attendance also highlighted a range of other issues.
These included dereliction, a shortage in the number of GPs in the town and facilities for people with disabilities, a lack of public amenities, and what people described as inadequate public street lighting.
The meeting also heard that the town's night-time economy had been severely impacted by the closure of several pubs and its nightclub.
Local representatives who attended the meeting said they did not agree with those in attendance who told the meeting that the town was "dying" or is "dead".
Deputy Carthy described the meeting as "productive".
Speaking afterwards, he said: "Carrickmacross is a town in which too many people, in my view, feel unsafe too often and so the issues that they (those at the meeting) have raised, have to be addressed.
"We have taken extensive detail of the questions and issues that have arisen. We will be engaging with all the stakeholders as political representatives, including the council executive, the gardaí, local businesses organisations and with Government departments because they can't wash their hands (of this)."
Mr Carthy went on to say: "Some of those concerns are very real in terms of issues around disability access and public lighting in particular parts of the town where people don't feel safe."
Local gardaí and representatives from the Executive of Monaghan County Council had been invited to attend the meeting but declined and instead provided detailed statements to Deputy Carthy.
Meanwhile, gardaí also issued a separate statement to RTÉ News ahead of tonight's meeting.
In the statement, gardaí said that there has been an overall reduction of 4% in reported crime at Carrickmacross Garda Station last year compared to 2023.
They also said that the Louth/Cavan/Monaghan division is currently policed by 704 members of An Garda Síochána of all ranks, and this represents a 16% increase on garda numbers in the then Cavan/Monaghan and Louth Divisions compared to 10 years ago.
Gardaí in the division also said that they will continue to support and work with local communities to detect and prevent rural crime, which they said they "understand does impact on the feeling of personal and community safety".
In the statement, a garda spokesperson said: "The allocation of garda resources takes a number of factors into consideration, including but not limited to, population, crime trends, operational strategies and the policing needs of individual areas which are kept under constant review, in order to maximise An Garda Síochána service capacity to our communities.
"An Garda Síochána, as a family-friendly organisation, also has responsibilities for supporting individual employees' circumstances and statutory work-life balance policies.
"The 'opening hours' of garda stations is not equivalent to the availability of gardaí patrolling in the community. Outside of these hours, members of An Garda Síochána continue to operate from these garda Stations, are on patrol in their local communities, are involved in community engagement and investigations and available to respond to assist the public.
"Every hour that a garda is required to remain inside a garda station to keep it open, is an hour that that garda cannot be on patrol in their local community."
The statement went on to say: "The public in Louth/Cavan/Monaghan are served by a dedicated cohort of members of An Garda Síochána and garda staff working diligently in keeping people safe. The support of the public for the frontline members of An Garda Síochána is hugely appreciated. An Garda Síochána at all ranks are committed and dedicated to maintaining safe communities.
"Gardaí in Louth/Cavan/Monaghan supported by their regional and national colleagues will continue to support and work with local communities, detecting and preventing rural crime issues, which we understand does impact on the feeling of personal and community safety.
"It should be noted that divisional resources are supported by regional resources (such as the Regional Armed Support Unit and Cyber Crime Unit) and national units where required," the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, local councillors in the Carrickmacross-Castleblayney municipal district have requested a meeting with Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan.
However, the councillors also said that they want the message to go out that Carrickmacross is safe.
In a statement this evening, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said: "Providing reception conditions - accommodation and other basic supports - to people seeking international protection is part of Irish and EU law and is also part of our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution in their home country.
"The State is currently accommodating more than 33,000 people in over 320 International Protection Accommodation Service centres around the country, about 9,400 of whom are children with their families."
The statement went on to say that: "In relation to Co Monaghan, there are approximately 700 people staying in international protection accommodation centres in the county."
However, there was no immediate confirmation about when a meeting between the local councillors and Minister O'Callaghan might go ahead.
Since last Thursday, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality is no longer responsible for integration matters with this transferring to the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration as per the new Programme for Government.
