Laois government TD says deportation planes not going out fast enough

A Laois government TD expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of deportations from Ireland.

Fianna Fail TD and ex Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Sean Fleming, made the comments at a public meeting which was held in Durrow to oppose IPAS(International Protection Accommodation Service) plans for the village. 

Up to 300 people gathered at the meeting in Durrow last Monday to discuss two planning applications which have been lodged with Laois County Council to convert two pubs in the village for use as IPAS accommodation.  

Deputy Fleming explained that the asylum seekers go through an application process and if they are deemed eligible, they are entitled to citizenship. If their applications are rejected they are issued with deportation orders, he said.

“This year so far about 200 have been deported,” said Dep Fleming. 

He said these people will have to return to where they came from and if they don’t they can be placed on a plane and sent home. 

“We are not seeing the planes going out fast enough,” he told the crowd who had gathered at the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow on Monday, July 21. 

READ ALSO: Hundreds attende meeting over planned Laois IPAS centres

Dep Fleming told the crowd that they would need to put in objections relevant to planning issues if they wanted to halt the IPAS plans in the village. He said the applicant cannot apply to IPAS without first having planning permission in place.

Dep Fleming cited other applicants for such accommodation in Laois which had been refused. He said the only major IPAS centre in Laois was in Emo and it has run for 20 years without issue. He said the people of Emo had welcomed them and he noted that Ireland needed people from outside the country to come here and work.