School appeals 'unfair, unjust and cruel' decision to move refugee students

The Crowne Plaza Hotel has been home to between 350 - 400 refugees, but the temporary accommodation contract with the hotel is due to end soon. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

A large Dublin secondary school has appealed to Government ministers to help their ‘refugee’ students who have been told they have to leave their hotel accommodation.

The staff, students, and parents of Our Lady of Mercy College in Beaumont described the proposed relocation of the students from where they have been living, in the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Northwood in north Dublin, as “unfair, unjust and cruel”, and said they need and deserve stability and security.

The students are among a group of between 350 and 400 refugees who have been staying at the hotel as part of a contract with the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).

IPAS told the group last week that the accommodation “will soon no longer be available” as its contract with the hotel is coming to an end.

However, as the Government is struggling to accommodate increasing numbers of people arriving in Ireland from war-torn Ukraine and those seeking international protection from elsewhere, IPAS has told the group that it will not be in a position to take requests for moves to particular locations.

The school said they have welcomed students from several countries who are living in temporary accommodation, and that teachers, parents, and students have worked together to provide uniforms, books, lockers, friendship and more.

“We have supported these students as they have settled into school life,” it said.

“We have been delighted to see them thrive.

These students have been uprooted at least once, some many times before. They have been unsettled from all they have known and have experienced the trauma that brings.

“They need and deserve stability and security.

“It is unfair, unjust and cruel to move students and their families time and again to settle in new schools and new accommodation.

“If families must be moved, they must be kept in their community so that they can continue their education and their lives.” 

The school has asked its local public representatives to raise the issue directly with Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, and with Education Minister Norma Foley.