Mayo councillor hits out at 'talking down' of her town in IPAS debate
STOP talking down the town of Ballyhaunis.
That was the message from Fine Gael Councillor Alma Gallagher who received a round of applause at a meeting of Mayo County Council where she said plans for a new IPAS centre can't be used to talk down the town.
Her comments came following a social media video published by Aontú Deputy Paul Lawless in relation to the proposed IPSA centre in the town, a private development Councillor Gallagher has expressed objection to.
With potential to house 96 people, the centre would lead to a 3.5% increase in the town's population, and with key services such as health, schools and transport already stretched, Ballyhaunis cannot sustain another international protection centre, said Councillor Gallagher.
Bridgestock Care Ltd. have lodged a planning application for 32 accommodation units with the council. But Councillor Gallagher says they have missed the boat, with government policy having shifted from private providers to State provided care.
Ballyhaunis, she commented, is a welcoming community and has been intregrating people since the 1970s. The town already has an IPAS centre, accommodating 250 residents.
She has been working hard for increased services in her home town since elected and she was asking other public representatives and Oireachtas members that are 'clinging onto this issue' to please walk past the Square of Ballyhaunis when making their social media accounts.
“Please stop talking down the town I come from,” she said, adding that Ballyhaunis has a lot of offer.
Councillor Gallagher took the meeting on a tour of investment in Ballyhaunis: a €5.5 million investment in the old convent school will start next year; €70,000 was invested in the playground refurbishment from the Community Recognition Fund; the new Centra shop has undergone refurbishment; go under the bridge and there's an active travel plan to make it safer for children going to school; work has just started on 25 new social houses; there's a €150,000 renovation of the old courthouse; and the new primary healthcare centre will open in the first quarter of next year.
“Do not use this as an issue to talk down the town of Ballyhaunis,” she said, receiving applause.
“Stop talking down the town of Ballyhaunis. Do not use this planning permission that's not supported at government level. This is a private operator.”
Councillor Gallagher said she wouldn't have any Oireachtas or local authority member talking down rural towns like Ballyhaunis.
CATERING FOR NEEDS OF ALL
Ballyhaunis, she continued, is very familiar with IPAS and with integration and migration.
“We want to cater for the needs of those people. Whether Irish and non-Irish, we are going to cater for the needs of the people that are in our town.”
In response, Aontú Councillor Deirdre Lawless supported her colleague's view on the centre but she took issue with the 'insinuation' about the social media post made on the Square of a local Oireachtas member running down the town.
She urged people to go to the social media page and view exactly what was said. It was highlighting the services that have been neglected, she said.
Ballyhaunis is an exceptional town, said Councillor Lawless, and very welcoming.
Councillor Gallagher hit back that she had listened to a Midwest Radio interview where it was highighted that Ballyhaunis has not benefitted at all from migration.
They had benefitted from the community recognition fund and she was asking that accurate information would go out to the public.
This wasn't the first time this happened in the county, continued Councillor Gallagher, with representatives like 'Miley Cyrus and a wrecking ball' swinging into communities causing hysteria with inaccurate information. Then people like her and other politicians have to go out to people and set the record straight.
SHOW LEADERSHIP
Among the contributors to the debate, Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry Murray said they needed to 'dial down the rhetoric'. There is an onus on Oireachtas members and councillors to show leadership, with a lot of irrational fear and hatred out there.
For the past 20 years the policy has been to ensure that people coming in have the means to achieve social and economic mobility, becoming creative and productive citizens.
We don't marginalise or isolate people because all you are doing is sowing the seeds for social unrest for the next generation to deal with, he added.
Former councillor John Cribben had shown that leadership in Ballyhaunis for the last 25 years and every councillor needed to take a leaf out of his book.
He agreed the system isn't working and needs to be better managed, but words have consequences.
Councillor Lawless welcomed that they were having a discussion on the system that has been allowed to happen unchecked by government parties.
Her party has opposed new large-scale IPAS centres, saying they don't work for the people coming in or for local communities.