‘Ballaghaderreen has been walked on’ - community activist claims

“Ballaghaderreen has been walked on”. These are the words of one local businessman and community activist, who was reacting to proposals to install 47 modular homes in the town to cater for more than 200 Ukrainian refugees.

Micheál Frain believes that the town could have been showcased as a blueprint for meaningful integration.

However, he said that the Department of Integration had failed in this regard because of the “lapse of information, the vacuums in place” and that these plans were being “landed on a community which had done more than its fair share”.

Extra services were promised in 2017 when Syrian refugees arrived in the town. “It’s seven years down the line, no extra services have come to Ballaghaderreen, it’s a simple as that.” 

Mr Frain described how “bad planning” had now led to pressures on local services such as health and schools.

He said these latest plans should be stalled until the Department gets “their act together” and put in additional services.

“Ballaghaderreen has been walked on. There have been no extra services added to Ballaghaderreen since 2017. This plan needs to be stopped and revisited until such time when the services are put in place. Ballaghaderreen has had enough.

“I think Ballaghaderreen at this point in time has done its fair share - more than any town in the country,” said Mr Frain.