Syrian refugee families to be housed in four Tipperary towns

Four towns in Co. Tipperary where between 40 and 45 Syrian refugee families are to be resettled will be announced within the next few weeks by the Co. Council, which is in the process of hiring workers to assist them assimilate into their new communities.

Co. Council senior social worker Padraig Ryan said the local authority has "more or less" identified the locations where the estimated 230 refugees will be settled and is finalising matters before announcing where they will be.

He said the Syrian families will be resettled in about four towns around the county, two in the south and two in the north. 

They will be housed in a combination of Council owned social housing and in voluntary housing agency developments.  

Mr Ryan, who works in the Council's housing section, said the Council is in the process of recruiting two resettlement workers and two inter-cultural workers to work with the families to assist them in settling into their new communities. 

Among their tasks will be to assist the refugee families to access health and education services in the towns they where they will be living.

These support workers will be in place by the end of the year and the first of the Syrian families are expected to move into their new Co. Tipperary homes in the early months of next year.

"They won't all come together. We hope to resettle them all over a period of six months," he explained.

The Department of Justice will be footing the cost of the four support workers the Council is hiring to assist the Syrian families settle in the county.

This isn't the first Syrian refugees resettlement in Co. Tipperary.  Twelve families fleeing the bitter and bloody Syrian civil war were resettled in Thurles in 2015/2016. 

They are living in Council homes at various locations around Thurles.  

Mr Ryan said the Council hasn't experienced any public negativity over the resettlement programme in Thurles.

He stressed the Syrian people being resettled in Co. Tipperary all have full  refugee status and have all been vetted by the Gardai and Department of Justice.

The progress of the Syrian refugees resettlement programme comes as the residents of Borrisokane prepared for the arrival of the first four families of asylum seekers. They are being housed at a complex of refurbished apartments in the village.

Several hundred people attended a public meeting in Borrisokane a few weeks ago when news broke about the opening of a direct provision centre for asylum seekers in their village.  

Mixed views on the direct provision centre were voiced at the meeting and concerns were voiced at the lack of consultation with local people.

 But there was a walk out of 30 to 40 people at the meeting over views voiced by Justin Barrett of the right-wing anti-immigration National Party.

Residents in Borrisokane have decided not to set up a protest campaign over the arrival of the asylum seekers and instead have formed a liaison committee to work with local councillors and the Department of Justice on how best to integrate the new arrivals into the community.