Call for Mayo school to be used as emergency accommodation

A MAYO County Councillor is asking for a school in his native Ballina to be considered as temporary accommodation for Ukrainian refugees coming into the country as a result of the war in their native country.

At a meeting of Ballina Municipal District today (Wednesday), Councillor Mark Duffy said that the existing St. Mary's Secondary School at Convent Hill will be vacated in June as staff and students will be returning to a brand new building in September.

He pointed out that there's no succession plan in place for the current school and it is going to be left vacant from mid-June, with the potential for it to become derelict as soon as the doors are closed.

Instead of allowing that to happen, it could be used as an emergency shelter with a few modifications.

He said: “The site on Convent Hill is walking distance to local primary schools and secondary schools as well as being less than 5 minutes walk to Ballina town centre meaning little requirements for transport.

“It also includes a gymnasium along with generous green space.

“If nothing is done with the site, it will fall into dereliction, disrepair and is likely to suffer from vandalism.

“A unique opportunity presents itself now to help support a great humanitarian effort and provide shelter for a displaced people while maintaining connections into this building such as light, heating, water and internet in doing so breathing new life and hope into the campus for the displaced Ukrainian people.

“I’m asking for this to be seriously considered by the team led by minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as part of the ongoing resettlement plans.”

Councillor Seamus Weir pointed out that many landlords are selling their houses, making it difficult for people to find rental properties, which prompted director of services Tom Gilligan to plead with small or accidental landlords to remain in the market for the next year or two instead of getting out.

He said there could potentially be 4,500 or 5,000 refugees from Ukraine coming to Mayo during the current crisis, and he urged anyone in the county with a vacant home to get in contact with the council.

“If we can turn around any accommodation we should do it,” he said. “I'm urging people to do what they can. It would be very much appreciated.”