Fr Seamus Enright Róise McGagh
Doras has called for Mount Trenchard Direct Provision Centre in Limerick to be closed immediately due to the unsuitable living conditions.
These conditions make it very difficult to practice religion according to John Lannon director of Doras.
“It would be extremely difficult to attend mass or engage in any kind of religious services because ironically while it is an old convent there isn’t access to mass or any prayer services there,” he said.
“Particularly then if we take people who would be practicing on Sundays,” as transport from the centre only runs Monday to Thursday.
Research
The non-profit human rights organisation made recommendations in July to the Department of Justice’s Reception and Integration Agency, now the International Protection Accommodation Service. Since research for the recommendations took place in Spring 2019 there has been no improvement.
“Many of the issues raised in this research were raised in the 2015 McMahon Report” said John. “Despite this, the living conditions and standards in Mount Trenchard remain largely the same.”
The issues identified were the safety and well-being of residents, the location of the centre, physical living conditions, and operational and staff issues.
Fr Seamus Enright is on the board of Doras and said the centre is very isolated. According to John this makes it very difficult for residents to interact with people in the community, even the people that come in and give direct support.
“The problem is people are there for years and years, they become institutionalised and they’re trying to cope with mental health problems, their wellbeing is very affected. There’s isolation, there’s social exclusion and there is lack of access to services like social and legal.”
The effect of these issues is prominent in the testimonies from residents released with the research from Doras. “In this place anybody normal come, after one year he is not normal.
One resident said: “He’s braindead, he’s not normal.”