“What every community wants is a sense of peace. That’s why the Ukrainians are here.”

Changing Ireland visited Rosslare in early 2022 when staff and volunteers with Wexford Local Development (WLD) were racing to respond to the unexpected arrival of refugees from the war in Ukraine. The team of community workers backed by the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme had a handle on things, but the fresh demands on them meant they put in long hours and had to rely on volunteers to do much of the running. Marie-Louise Byrne, SICAP community development co-ordinator said, “I’d never seen anything the likes of it. The intensity of it was worse than during Covid.”
Flabbergasted by the numbers, one long-standing community volunteer said to another, without thinking: “What about our own refugees?” WLD has since made a name for itself as a well-organised and welcoming organisation and, nowadays staff take news of new arrivals in their stride.

“One of our SICAP priorities was people seeking international protection, so we had experience. People are still settling in and there are issues. English is still almost non-existent and those people feel isolated. We’ve been doing a lot of work,” said Marie-Louise.

“It was heavy going at times, but it’s grand now. The work is not as intense and we don’t micro-manage like we did at the beginning. We let our two Ukrainian support workers get on with it (see interview on oppositive page). There’s structures set up and activities and we’re talking to people the whole time. But there’s no crisis anymore.”

“WHAT EVERY COMMUNITY WANTS IS A SENSE OF PEACE”

In terms of integration, WLD are well connected across the county.
“The most important thing we’ve done is ramp up having conversations with people. We know our communities and what every community wants is a sense of peace. And that’s why the Ukrainians wanted to leave their own country – we all want peace. We don’t want division.
“We know the movers and shakers in our communities, who has influence. We know how to have healthy conversations. Relating to people’s thoughts, fears and concerns, you take a hell of a lot of the sting out of it. Marie-Louise warns against “falling into the trap of dismissing people, saying they’re racist for giving out about refugees”. With the rising cost of living, she says it is tempting for people to “fall into having resentment towards refugees, or towards people on the dole – saying they have their medical cards and all that”.

PRIVATE CONTRACTORS MAKING “A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY OUT OF THIS”

“Put yourself in someone’s shoes who’s never met someone from Syria. They saw bread cost them 69 cents during the pandemic, and for a while there it was costing €1.09. People get thinking ‘I’m not getting such-and-such because refugees are getting everything’.”
She and her team urge people to think more broadly: “This is quite a rich country. The private contractors (providing accommodation) are making a hell of a lot of money out of this, not refugees.”

“People sometimes say, ‘They’re driving big cars’. Well, how do you think they got here? They’re fleeing bombs!”

There have been nearly no protests by the far right in County Wexford (one small one went nowhere).

At local level, integration is working well – and there are many quiet counties like Wexford where they’re just getting on with it. Marie-Louise said, for instance, that “a lot of the lads” in Direct Provision in Rosslare are now working for the haulier companies, mostly in the yard. More are working in the local Supervalu.

“It’s that power of contacts,” she said.

COMMUNICATIONS NEEDED TO IMPROVE

She spoke of local team sports that help to introduce people who might otherwise never meet. A soccer match was organised for Rosslare locals V Direct Provision residents, and afterwards the locals were invited back to the DP centre (which used to be the local hotel) for their medals and refreshments. Some locals were reluctant, but once they crossed the threshold all they talked about was soccer and who scored the best goal. This is integration.

Having healthy conversations and connecting with communities helps to dispel far right lies, says Marie-Louise: “As one of my colleagues says, everyone has the right to their own opinion, but nobody has a right to make up their own facts.”

Last spring, there was however one issue that was making conversations difficult; her team was not informed about when new arrivals were coming. Communications have improved since the start of summer.

NATIONAL MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

The community work by Wexford’s SICAP team, aided by volunteers, was noticed by national broadcasters early on. Staff and supporters have regularly appeared on radio shows, been interviewed by national newspapers and so on. They see it as an integral part of their work to engage with the media.

Employment is a challenge even for people with good English and that can annoy Marie-Louise.
“It’s a shame to see people here who have medical qualifications and they can’t even get work in a care home. You see a dentist working in a restaurant and Ireland screaming out for dentists, but we won’t recognise their qualifications.”
She is hopeful the HSE will resolve this.

In terms of support from the Department of Rural and Community Development, she is pleased overall. However, she might have preferred if the €50m Community Recognition Fund was not an open call:

“It’s for the key communities who gave the best welcome and you can understand the rationale behind it,” she said. “But in Rosslare nearly 3% of the population are now either Ukrainian or in international protection. And Rosslare Harbour still doesn’t have a community centre. Invest in Rosslare. Do the same for Courtown/Riverchapel – they have no secondary school or community centre. Invest in these key locations that were lacking in basic infrastructure and investment way before the new arrivals”

Overall, however, she is pleased with the levels of support:

“Minister O’Brien gets it. He talks about SICAP as 600 community workers. He’s the only one who’s ever got us,” she said.