Residents of a Co Tipperary town have had a temporary stay put on their eviction from an International Protection Accommodation complex as a campaign to keep them in the community continues.

The 20 families, who have been living in Borrisokane since 2019, have been granted Leave to Remain status and no longer qualify for IPA accommodation.

The families, who include 27 primary school-aged children, teenagers and elderly ladies, were issued with eviction notices earlier this year which were due to expire two weeks ago.

However, an agreement reached with the local community when the town was first asked to welcome refugees from Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa, stipulated they could remain living in the IPA complex long term, with the support of local authority Housing Assistance Payments or other rent supports.

Further notice

Letters have now been issued to the families instructing them to remain at their current location until further notice.

“IPAS will provide you with an alternative date in due course, with instructions that you and your family must vacate your current accommodation centre,” states the letter.

A spokesperson for the Borrisokane Liaison Committee said the stay on evictions was a temporary fix when a permanent solution was needed.

“These letters offer no consolation to families who continue to live under the threat of eviction and potential homelessness,” she said.

“We were told Minister Roderick O’Gorman would meet with us last week but that didn’t happen and we now understand he is on leave until later this month. We aren’t interested in meeting with his officials, we need to sit down with him and ensure the agreement we have from 2019 is honoured.”

Meanwhile, renovation work at a further eight apartments at the Riverside Complex, which is home to the 20 families, has raised concern locally that more International Protection Applicants will be housed there in the near future.

“The agreement we have from 2019 was for 20 apartments, no more. Any efforts to increase capacity at the complex does not have the support of the local community,” added the liaison committee spokesperson.

“The families that have integrated in our community are left in limbo and this pause on their eviction simply isn’t good enough. There is no agreement there to increase capacity in the community when the original agreement is not being honoured by the Government.”