In his St Patrick’s Day homily in Sligo, Bishop Kevin Doran hit out at the “failure” of the Government to manage the accommodation needs of asylum seekers in “a humane manner”, describing the handling of the situation as “quite disturbing”.
The money spent on last week’s two referenda might have been “much more fruitfully spent on providing suitable purpose-built accommodation” for asylum seekers like those sleeping rough outside the International Protection Office in Dublin, he said.
Referring to the removal of the makeshift camp on Mount Street in Dublin and the setting up of an alternative camp in Crooksling, between Tallaght and Blessington, Dr Doran said it was a policy of “out of sight, out of mind”.
The refugee crisis, he stressed, was “an enormous scar on humanity which needs to be healed”.
Dr Doran said it was “particularly sad” to hear Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggest that he would support the policy of the European Peoples’ Party which would deport asylum seekers to so-called “safe third countries” outside the EU, where they would then receive international protection if they were granted asylum.
Dr Doran’s concerns were echoed by the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, who warned that “Ireland cannot be allowed to become inhospitable to newcomers to our shores” where “the warm fire of hospitality” is replaced by “raging fires of division, distrust and disdain”.
In his homily for St Patrick’s Day Mass in Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick, Dr Leahy said St Patrick, himself a migrant, asks us how we are treating those who have migrated to our land?
“Some came here out of choice. Others have come escaping from war, persecution, or exploitation. For the most part they are ordinary human beings like us, many indeed very talented, people who reached good careers before they had to flee,” he said.
He acknowledged that the “majority of people in Ireland are open and welcoming” and that there are undoubtedly bona fide concerns within some communities about the lack of services and supports and the negative impact on local livelihoods when all hotel beds are taken up.
But, he underlined, there are undoubtedly those who are taking advantage of this, “stirring tensions, triggering riots, murmurings, social media campaigns”.
As a result, migrants might now feel Ireland is becoming inhospitable, “far from a place of a thousand welcomes”.
Instead of welcoming and protecting, promoting and integrating refugees “we witness outbursts of racism and violence, hatred and misinformation,” he said.
Concern over the treatment of migrants was also the central theme of the St Patrick’s Day message of the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin.
He called for “an honest and open conversation about migration, both outward and inward” on both sides of the border.
Referring to the struggle of Irish emigrants to gain acceptance, he said it is worth asking ourselves “how can Ireland live up to its reputation as a land of welcomes” to the many newcomers who have arrived among us.