Update requested for County Waterford Reception and Orientation Centre
Civic Offices in Dungarvan.
A West Waterford councillor has called on the Dungarvan-Lismore District Council to seek an update from the Department of Justice on the use of a hotel as a Reception and Orientation Centre (ROC).
Cllr Damien Geoghegan requested at the July sitting of the district council, saying it had been 10 years since the two-year contract at the Clonea Strand Hotel had been signed.
“It was at the height of the Syrian Civil War. Quite a number of Syrian refugees came over, and since then, the Syrian regime under Assad has collapsed last December.
"Can we get an update on the different nationalities staying there and the numbers, and maybe their plans in the future regarding the use of Clonea as a Reception and Orientation Centre," said Cllr Geoghegan.
Cllr Joe O’Riordan responded, saying that he knows many of the people staying at the former hotel are fleeing the conflict in Afghanistan.
“Some of them are judges who were in the government before the Americans left, and there are quite a number of people who are actually fleeing from the war in Afghanistan,” Cllr O’Riordan.
Readers should note that the fall of the Assad regime did not mark the end of the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
In a 2025 House of Commons report, citing the United Nations, an estimated 16.5 million people in Syria remain in need of aid.
Around 14.5 million people live with food insecurity, while 14.4 million people need water, sanitation and hygiene services.
The report also said "the prospect of refugee return to Syria remains deeply uncertain and highly challenging, given the widespread destruction, lack of infrastructure, limited economic opportunities, and ongoing security concerns."
Fighting and violence are still going on in Syria, with clashes earlier this month in the Suwayda province.
Aid is being distributed, but according to Al Jazeera, the UN has called the situation “constrained.”
OCHA told the news outlet that the humanitarian situation “remains critical amid ongoing instability and intermittent hostilities.”
