Rural Ireland is prepared to open its housing to refugees. It was learned this week that accommodation for 8,000 asylum-seekers had been located.
Some weeks ago, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform advertised in the provincial press for information to compile a list of suitable accommodation for asylum-seekers.
In line with Government policy not to concentrate all asylum-seekers on the east coast, especially in Dublin, it asked the owners of hotels, guesthouses and bed and breakfast premises to make contact. It included persons with apartments or other self-catering accommodation for letting. They were asked to contact the Refugee Applications Centre in Lower Mount Street, Dublin.
The Department asked those interested in providing such accommodation to specify what was on offer, the size of the accommodation and the rent.
Earlier this week, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said it had located accommodation for 8,000 people, 500 of these places in the midlands.
There were 8,150 asylum-seekers being dealt with by the Department.
A spokeswoman for the Midland Health Board said it had been asked by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to help in the task of finding accommodation. "We are currently looking at various places in the midlands which could be of use for this purpose and we are compiling our own list of accommodation for the Department."
She said asylum-seekers would be allocated accommodation in the area through the health boards and the local authorities.
"We had a number of calls here in the office in Tullamore offering accommodation but most of them seemed to be from Kildare, which is outside our health board area."
County councils have also been contacted by people with accommodation and in Co Westmeath there was a considerable response from the public to the call.
Many of these calls came from people with holiday accommodation on the Shannon which is under-used during the winter.
The announcement on Tuesday of the easing of the restrictions on refugees finding work is welcome in the midlands where some businesses have already sought workers from outside the State.
One of the largest employers in the area, Kepak in Ballymahon, Co Longford, has already taken on skilled meat processors from Poland due to a shortage of skilled Irish labour.
The 30 Polish workers live in Athlone and travel to work in Ballymahon by coach each day.
The meat processing industry has been suffering for some time from a lack of trained personnel to cope with the seasonal demand for processing, especially in the autumn and early winter when the bulk of meat is processed.
A Longford-based engineering firm has also taken on fitters from Poland and some other plants are understood to be following suit.
There was also considerable interest in the announcement by An Bord Glas that it would be working with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to bring in seasonal workers.
It estimated that there is a shortfall of 4,000 workers in the horticulture industry, including soft fruit and mushroom picking, which need to be filled by guest workers.
An agency to help recruit workers from former Eastern Bloc countries is about to open in Co Laois.