Reopening of Kildare Ukrainian accommodation ‘waste of money’

“Could ye not get your fu*king act together? And you can quote me on that,” said cllr Bill Clear voicing his displeasure at the re-opening of the International Persons Accommodation Service (IPAS) Centre for Ukrainian refugees at Flood’s Cross, Newhall just outside Naas.

Originally built last year to house up to 1,000 refugees, it was closed and dismantled only seven months ago in March, it is to re-open this week for another 350 arrivals, although only for a 90-day tenure.

So far there has been no confirmation from the Department of Justice as to why the decision to re-open the centre has been made.

“It is a complete and utter waste of money to close down the place [in March] an re-open it again now,” said cllr Clear.

“It should’ve been kept open and used to house essential workers. There’s lots of staff up at Naas General Hospital crying out for accommodation.

“Also, I don’t understand this 90-day rule. Where will they go after 90 days?

“There is nothing in Naas, literally zero. People are stopping me on the street asking if I know of any accommodation.

“I do understand they’re (Ukrainian refugees) in a desperate situation being bombed by Russian drones every night, but it is a total and utter waste of our money.

“It’s only the tip of the iceberg around the country, nobody in charge seems to know what they’re doing.

“People think there’s a plan going forward, if this is the strategy – opening, closing.

“This just shows the government has no strategy,” he concluded.

Fintan Flood, upon whose land the Centre was erected, was open to this idea when he spoke with The Kildare Nationalist last March.

“If somebody said to me, we need good value accommodation at short notice’ I’d be able to say no problem,” he said.

“It’ll now go back to grazing sheep, but if you really wanted nurses instead of sheep – no problem.

“If you wanted 1,000 people in accommodation out there within 12 months – no problem – and that could start within 10 weeks.

“It is a fully serviced site, and at peak times 685 people were being fed there every day.

“You could walk into Lidl in 10 minutes, get a taxi to Sallins Railway Station in 10 minutes, walk down to the bus stop and be in Dublin in 40 minutes.

“There was even a pathway into the middle of Naas specifically built so you wouldn’t have to walk on public roads. I’ve walked it, and can do it to Naas Town Hall in 26 minutes.

“We spent €241,000 on sewerage, and €141,000 on water.

He added: “Commercially, it has been an unmitigated disaster, and that’s the nicest thing my accountant said to me!

“I’ve had pigs heads thrown at me, shite thrown over the gate, my wife and children abuse, and I had to give up a seat on a local board after being screamed at that I was a people trafficker.

“But, we did a bit of good, and we’re very proud of it,” he said.

“You’d see somebody coming in with legs blown off, yet a week later you could be having a cup of tea with them and they wouldn’t be shaking any more.

“I remember the first time we had to do the mandatory fire alarm test, and the first thing everybody did was dive under the tables.

“When I asked why, they said that every time they heard that sound over the last few years it meant bombs were coming.

“But the biggest thing we could provide for them? Silence.

“I met a mother who hadn’t slept in months, and what she said about Newhall was the silence and the sleep.

“That’s what I feel good about. When you can look a mother in the eyes and she was happy because she could let her children sleep”.