Rural Ireland lacks the public services and housing for such large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers, a rural TD has said. 

Independent Donegal TD Thomas Pringle said tourist accommodation in the county, which was originally commandeered for short-term use, should be allowed to get back to business. 

Donegal has the highest number of international protection applications per capita and Deputy Pringle said businesses in his constituency were feeling the impact. 

“The Government needs to get together and [come up with] a long-term solution and provide real solutions, rather than the constant emergency situation that the Government has been operating in,” he said. 

“Which just seems to be endless emergencies rather than dealing with the situation and dealing with the problem once and for all.” 

Public services

Deputy Pringle said public services in his home county are understaffed given the increase in the population. 

“We need medical facilities to be made available, we need hospitals to be made  available, we need teachers to be made available and those things need to be made available anyway,” he said. 

“The Government has to accept that they’re not doing that.” 

There are an estimated 80,000 Ukrainian refugees in Ireland and in 2022, 13,000 people lodged international protection applications.

Main image: Thomas Pringle. Picture by: Alamy.com