Varadkar: No community can 'have a veto' about who lives where

Leo Varadkar said it is important that consultation with communities over refugee centres is not confused with the idea that people can choose who lives near them

Leo Varadkar (Damien Storan/PA)

No community can "have a veto" about who lives there, the Tánaiste has said.

Leo Varadkar was speaking on Wednesday as protesters in the East Wall area of Dublin said they would end their demonstrations against the housing of 80 single men in a former office building after Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman agreed to meet with locals.

Local independent councillor Nial Ring said the meetings were welcome but should have happened sooner to allow "questions to be addressed much earlier and prevent all the rumours, misinformation and idle speculation" which has seen elements of Ireland's far-right involve themselves in the issue.

Mr Ring has said on Tuesday that the protests were "around 50-50" between people from the area and those from outside.

Mr O'Gorman will not, however, meet with any far-right or groups from outside the area.

A Ukraine independence rally in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Varadkar said while the Government should interact more with local representatives, he said that no community will be allowed to say yes or no to housing refugees. He said the public is aware that the Ukrainian refugee crisis has made this "an unprecedented situation".

“I think it is important that we consult our communities,” Mr Varadkar said. “I think that is the right thing to do. We'll have to work out how we can do that better in future.

“But I don't think any community can have a veto on who gets to live in their area.

“It's never been the case that when a new housing estate was built near me that I was consulted on who got to live there. The same thing would apply to a new apartment block.

“I think we need to be very careful not to make the mistake of confusing consultation and information with communities, which is important, with the idea that any community can have a veto on the kind of people who get to live in their area.

“That's not right.”

The Tánaiste said it was "impossible" to give a commitment that no Ukrainian refugee would become homeless if hotels pivot back to catering for tourism. He said the Government will “do everything we can to avoid that happening”.

“We'll do everything we can to provide them with shelter and that will range from accommodation in people's homes to retrofitting old warehouses, office blocks, using hotels, using modular housing and rapid building

“We'll do everything we can to make sure that everyone has shelter."

Mr Varadkar rejected the notion that the issue of Ukrainian refugees should be taken from Mr O'Gorman's department and brought into the Department of the Taoiseach. He said the Taoiseach's role in these instances is co-ordination, but that the Department of the Taoiseach is less well staffed than "many large secondary schools".

Earlier on Wednesday, the National Co-Ordinator of Ukraine Civil Society Response, Emma Lane Spollen told RTÉ Radio that the use of the building in East Wall was “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.

“They are not appropriate places. But we don’t want people living in tents. It is not just the physical infrastructure.

"But we would be deeply concerned that there are no supports in place.

"Cleaners, security guard and one deputy manager in East Wall (refugee accommodation centre). That is just madness. We can do better.”