Nobody in the locality is clear as to what is going on at Thornton Hall right now.
That is the opinion of Cllr Joe Bonner as he talks about the concerns he is hearing on the
doors from constituents, in the run up to the Local Elections this Friday.
Thornton Hall was originally purchased by the state to build a prison over twenty years ago.
It will now be used as a centre to accommodate International Protection applicants under a
lease agreement agreed with the Irish Prison Service.
The current update issued on 28th May reads;
”Update in relation to Thornton Hall:
Accommodation on the site will be provided for people seeking refuge in Ireland who are
International Protection Applicants at Thornton Hall, Kilcoscan, Fingal, K67 KV76. The
number of beds to be provided is currently under review and further information on this will
be provided closer to the time the site is available.”
”There is a void of specific information and there is speculation as to what is exactly happening
right now.” he points out.
As public representatives he is calling on the government come clean and tell the people
what is going on. He said;
”It appears to me, it is all going under the cloak. We, as councillors, are entitled to be updated and
we can therefore tell people at the door what is happening. I am looking for the minister to give an accurate account
of what is going to happen both negative and positive.”
”We need to know how many people will be accommodated, who are they, will there be a bus service
provided ,will there be doctors on site with medical support, what security will be in place, why are they using an area which is also
impacted with noise from the flight paths flying over the tents. What is the short and long term policy,
what is the exit policy, are the type of questions we need answers to.
Emigration is a the big issue and it has become one of the key talking points on the doors in Ashbourne .
Cllr Bonner wants to be able to clarify the issues and this can only come from the information being made available to
the councillors he points out.
” What do I tell people when you don’t have the facts, you cause a void of information. Then there’s speculation among the
locals. What is happening now is not right, as a councillor I have always held public meetings to tell the people
what is happening, I can’t do that if I don’t have the information.” he concluded.
Meath Live has contacted the Department of Children, Equality,
Disability, Integration and Youth for an update.
The department says in the briefing issued on 28th May they will keep people informed of the facts
” to ensure you are informed of developments in your area in relation to emergency
accommodation for international applicants” however, the information does not
go into any detail on numbers and dates and this lack of information is causing concern in the locality.
It will be a difficult week in the lead up to the local elections, if councillors and candidates, can’t give specifics
about Thornton Hall to their constituents as pointed out by Cllr Bonner whom they represent.
