14 Families living in a Waterford direct provision centre are told to vacate
Recent demonstrations at Ocean View House, Tramore, after eviction letters were issued to 14 families.
Fourteen families with small children in Tramore have received eviction letters demanding they vacate their accommodation at Ocean View House Direct Provision Centre, Tramore, Waterford by various dates in July.
Many of these families have received no further information on where they are to go, or be moved to, or how they are to maintain their employment, education, health and social networks. Families residing in Ocean View have been living there for upwards of five years.
Representatives from the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) say that the families are integrated into the Waterford community, with the children attending local schools, involved in clubs and the adults working in jobs locally.
Having attempted to seek accommodation in the private rental sector across the country, many of them over the course of the past two or more years with little, or no, availability in the sector, they have been unable to find anything.
CATU members say they have been pleading their case with the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS), sending dozens of the references the families received from their schools, community groups, workplaces and churches they are integrated in, showing what a huge loss they will be to the Tramore community.
CATU Waterford members have also demanded a guarantee that the families will not be evicted until they are safely housed locally. The group recently held a demonstration outside Ocean View, calling on people in Tramore and Waterford to stand in solidarity with their members being evicted.
Evelyn is one such resident of Ocean View who was present at the recent demonstration. Originally from Nigeria, she moved to Waterford three years ago.
She told the Waterford News & Star that the recent wave of eviction letters is having a heavy impact on the wellbeing of the residents.
“This has taken a huge toll on each and every one of us, parents and children,” she said.
“It’s been torture for those who receive a letter and for those who haven’t yet received a letter. For those who haven’t received a letter, it’s more of a torture because you keep thinking tomorrow might be my turn."
She added, “The knowledge of this letter has really given us fear. We all came here for safety and now we are back in fear again because we don’t know where we will end up."
Speaking on the impact the possible evictions are having on children living at Ocean View, she said: “I have a 13-year-old daughter and in Africa a 13-year-old is old enough to be able to take care of a home and to cook. My daughter doesn’t even have access to a kitchen. We need to safeguard our children.
"Our kids go to school here and our fear is that they will be displaced again and taken to a destination where they don’t know anyone. Even if I don’t have a place to go I will sleep in my car but my kids can’t do that."
She added, “My daughter goes from Tramore to Waterford to play with her friends in the park and I don’t fear for her here because she knows her way. This is our home. Our home is beyond the box we live in, our home is Tramore and Waterford."
Another resident, Dudu, who moved to Waterford five years ago from Eswatini, says that the community of Ocean View will stand together to resist eviction.
“If we stand together and if we are strong we will be able to defeat whatever happens. What is happening right now, it is happening in every county in Ireland.
“The children here are asking us, when are we going? Why are we going? What about my school? What about my friends? This has broken the relationship between us parents and our children and it is so sad because someone came and stole that relationship from us."
Speaking further to the Waterford News & Star was Killian Mangan, Communications Officer for CATU Waterford, who said that the residents have been treated inhumanely.
“These people are being told that if they don’t find accommodation the government might be able to find them somewhere to stay in Dublin. Meanwhile, there are people literally in tents in Dublin because there isn’t enough space there.
“It’s like having a chessboard and government are trying to move all the pieces around hoping that one or two of them will just disappear. You’re not fixing the problem if you’re just shifting people around, you’re actually just causing massive harm and stress.
“This is a long pattern of the Irish government treating asylum seekers and refugees inhumanly. It’s also part of a long pattern of the Irish government not properly acknowledging there’s a housing crisis. The government, instead of building a state-run nonprofit asylum system, which is humane, they just basically try to kick people out who have been granted asylum so that they can make room for new people."
Mr. Mangan added, "There isn’t a lot of accommodation available. A lot of the residents here are working but may still also need the help of something like HAP, because accommodation is just so incredibly exploitative and overpriced."
Michael Sheehan, CATU Munster Regional Organiser, said that the wider community of Tramore and Waterford will be damaged should evictions continue.
“It’s a national issue and we won’t stand for it. Most of these people have been here for years and they are well integrated in Tramore and Waterford.
“It’s terrible for them to now have to be reintegrated but it’s also terrible for the wider community. Most of these residents are very involved in community groups, church groups, sport groups and schools. This will be a loss to Waterford and Tramore so we’re fighting back."
He added, “About 3,000 people nationwide have been given eviction notices in direct provision centres, basically being told to move out, but as we know with the housing crisis this basically amounts to being evicted into homelessness.”
Mr. Sheehan added that CATU are prepared to resist any evictions. The group have also planned to set up a picket outside the constituency offices of local Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh.
