Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has disputed claims made by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris that gardaí were not notified that a disused hotel in Co Galway was to be designated as a centre for asylum seekers.
A fire destroyed the Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahill on Saturday night, just days before it was to be opened to international protection applicants, and the incident is now the subject of a “major” criminal investigation.
It was reported on Wednesday that Mr Harris said An Garda Síochána lost opportunities to increase safety around the hotel because it was not notified about the plans.
However in an interview with The Irish Times, Mr O’Gorman said an email was sent to gardaí last Friday afternoon. Asked if it was the case if gardaí had not been properly informed, he said: “it is not [the case[”.
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“We have a community engagement team now that is set up which supports the opening of new accommodation and there’s a protocol set out. First of all, a briefing note is circulated to local elected reps, TDs, senators and councillors and there is an opportunity for them to ring or email and seek clarification.”
[ Galway fire: Garda not told hotel was to be used for asylum seekers, Harris saysOpens in new window ]
“Straight after that email goes out, an email goes out to statutory services. So that is Tusla, the HSE, a named contact in An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice, Department of Health and other departments. That email went out on Friday afternoon very soon after the email to elected representatives went out. So when I saw the story The Irish Times this morning and heard the commentary on Morning Ireland I was very surprised, so I asked officials to check and we can confirm that the notification was made to An Garda Síochána and the other statutory bodies.”
“As you know, we’re not accommodating everybody we need to accommodate right now. And that’s going to create pressure but we have a statutory obligation to do this. We’re providing the relevant information to elected reps, statutory bodies, communities, in terms of where we are in opening new accommodation. We will take all measures to ensure the safety of property.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said that gardaí were informed but added that “for whatever reason, the message did not get through”.
He added that he believed it was important that gardaí are notified anytime there is a new accommodation centre being established and that they might have to adopt a “belt and braces” approach the next time, which could include an email, letter and a phone call.
Mr Harris said if the Garda had been notified it could have performed risk assessments and could have offered safety advice to the property owners. However, in the case of Ross Lake House, gardaí realised the building had been designated for asylum seekers only when contacted by local councillors.
“The notification was through local sources and then just the evidence of work being carried out,” he said.
He made his remarks at a public meeting of the Policing Authority in Dublin on Tuesday and his account initially put pressure on the Government, adding to claims that it has botched its communication strategies surrounding accommodation for asylum seekers.
On Wednesday evening, in response to queries, the Garda said it does not comment on third-party remarks.
“An Garda Síochána outlined its position on this matter at the Policing Authority public meeting yesterday,” said a spokeswoman for the force.
However, it is understood that while Garda Headquarters accepts it received email notification on December 15th at the same time as other stakeholders, it rejects the suggestion this equated to “advance notice”.
“From our point of view, it is certainly not advance notification of the changed use of the building for what we all know are potentially flash points or potential issues for local communities,” said a Garda source.
“The department is saying they notified us in advance of anyone taking up residence, which is accurate, but we didn’t get any notification in advance of anybody else getting notification that it was likely to be used for that purpose.
“Were we aware of the use of the premises before that? No. At that stage, there were already protests in place at the centre.
“It had been rumoured in the community that this was happening. From our point of view, operationally, we’d like to have had the opportunity to talk to businesses and give them advice and engage them in advance of it becoming in any way public knowledge.”
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