Mayo United against Racism members 'disgusted' by council motion
Members of the Mayo Branch of United Against Racism have expressed their disgust at a motion tabled for discussion at a special meeting of Mayo County Council next Friday.
The motion which is a cause of concern to the organisation states: "Having regard to the recent and sudden population increase in towns and villages in Mayo, and in the absence of a clear strategy to ensure the delivery of critical services (medical, policing, education, etc.), that Mayo County Council no longer cooperates with the intake of Ukrainian refugees (BOTP) and international protection asylum seekers (IPAS) into the county until the aforementioned strategy is prepared, resourced and delivered."
A statement issued by the branch outlined: "The motion presented is a disgraceful attempt to shift the blame for the housing crisis away from councillors onto refugees and migrants.
"UAR Mayo stands full square against this nasty scapegoating.
"The idea that councillors from a county like Mayo with its traumatic history of mass emigration due to poverty, famine and war would support such a motion is shameful.
"Mayo has had a growing homelessness and housing crisis for the past decade and we’ve never had a motion from these same councillors to demand that the thousands of vacant houses in the county be mass purchased by the State to house the people.
"We have a national budget surplus of over €5 billion for 2023 a projected €10 billion for 2024 and €16 billion for 2025 yet we don’t hear these elected representatives demanding that this money be used to rapidly invest in housing for all.
"In terms of population, the irony is that hundreds of thousands of people have left rural counties like Mayo in the past decade due to economic collapse and we have many towns and villages that are dying from depopulation refugees and migrants have been shown to rejuvenate towns like Ballaghderreen and Ballyhaunis and bring skills, culture and energy.
"We call on the people of Mayo to reject this populist stunt and join the Mayo For All Campaign to demand decent services for all members of our society."