War-torn Syria is very far away from small-town Ireland, but in a County Roscommon town, some Syrians – fleeing the civil war in their country – have been housed in a former hotel for almost six months. Under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon welcomed the refugees earlier this year. The former hotel is now an Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre and the two hundred and one Syrians staying there have been unable to work or study since their arrival. Drivetime's John Cooke visited the small Co Roscommon village to speak to some of the refugees who are wondering what happens next for them and when whatever that is will happen.
"Some told me they're depressed and anxious about the situation."
The fear is that tensions may rise in centres like one in Ballaghadereen. Although there have been many positives, and the local community has made tremendous efforts to welcome their Syrian visitors, John tells Mary Wilson that:
"They're living, eating and sleeping, going to school and spending nearly all their time under the one hotel roof for more than six months now."
His most recent visit to the Emergency Centre was John's third, and he has spoken to many of the refugees and heard about their frustrations. John believes that many of the Syrians in Ballaghaderreen might have been among the few from their country who could afford to pay for the dangerous crossing on smugglers' boats to Greece.
"Out of these two hundred Syrians in Ballaghaderreen, there are many highly-educated and professional couples… I spoke to students, teachers, lecturers, scientists, a pharmacist, a vet. It's clear to me that these people were probably the better-off in their home communities in Syria."
One of the people John spoke to in the centre is Ala Hindi, a 20-year-old from Syria's ruined second city of Aleppo. When John met him first in April of this year, Ala told him how he'd left an Economics degree course behind to escape the destruction of his native city. Six months on, Ala has just been granted residency in Ireland. But having lived in a city like Aleppo, Ala is bored in a town like Ballaghaderreen and wants to move on with his life in Ireland. John asked him if he had any idea when that might happen.
"No one knows because they are always talking about house crisis, so no one knows when we will move, we don't know."
Ala told John that he wants to be in a big city, to get opportunities to improve his English and live among and speak with Irish people. What does he do to keep busy, John wondered.
"We have lots of times to do nothing here. We didn't come here just to sit."
Ala wants to make a life for himself in Ireland, to get a job, to make Irish friends. As of now, there's no indication when that might even begin to happen.
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