‘We will keep an open mind’ – Inch locals to hold second meeting with Junior Minister

*Inch locals at Magowna Cross on Tuesday evening. Photograph: John Mangan

A DELEGATION OF INCH residents are to meet the Junior Minister for Integration on Thursday regarding future plans for Magowna House.

Four weeks on from his first visit to Inch, Minister of State at the Department of Integration, Joe O’Brien (GP) will return to the county as promised to meet a deputation of Inch locals to hear their concerns and advise on future plans for Magowna House.

Over a six day period last month, Inch locals had mounted blockades at Magowna Cross, Magowna House and Magowna Hill following the arrival of 34 male asylum seekers.

Following their first meeting with Junior Minister O’Brien, locals agreed to remove the blockades but have for the past three weeks continued to hold peaceful protests with Inch residents operating on a two hour rota where they have been based at Magowna Cross. He gave assurances that no further international protection applicants would arrive between his first and second meeting with locals.

Concerns regarding public infrastructure, sewerage and the absence of a fire certificate at Magowna House which has been closed since 2019 continue to be flagged by locals. The facility had been deemed unsuitable by Clare County Council to house Ukrainian families last year.

An update on the issuing of a fire certificate is expected to be given to locals during the meeting with the Junior Minister.

“Our stance has remained constant, we believe the facility is not suitable, we acknowledge the national crisis and that the facility is likely to be used in some capacity,” an Inch resident told The Clare Echo on Wednesday.

No venue has yet been fixed for the meeting on Thursday afternoon between the Inch deputation and the Junior Minister. The Clare Echo understands that the group will ask the Junior Minister to consider looking a gender mix within the facility if the amount of personnel residing at Magowna House is to increase.

“We will go in with open minds,” one spokesperson for the Inch community said. They have praised O’Brien for upholding the commitment he gave a month ago to return to Co Clare. “This facility is not ideal, we understand there are people living on the streets of Dublin and that they have to be housed”.

Correspondence has also been issued by female members of the community in Inch to female Oireachtas representatives where they have shared their stress on the current conditions in Inch.

Speaking in Ennis following his first meeting with Inch residents, O’Brien commented, “I hope that in four weeks time the people of Inch will see that this is a better situation for the residents and a less fearful one for them as well”.

On his view of the people of Inch, the Junior Minister said they were “normal, decent people and they have concerns and we are going to try our best to address them”. He added, “I met two decent sets of people today, the International Protection (IP) applicants and the representatives of Inch – they are reasonable people, they are good people. I would say that they do feel angry about how they are being portrayed – they were also very clear to distinguish themselves from people who would be associated with the far-right. The people I spoke to today are not associated with the far right”.