“We need to clarify it’s fake news” so says one Kilkenny councillor of online claims that a Direct Provision Centre’s being earmarked for Ballyragget.
At the county council’s housing strategic policy committee meeting this week Andrew McGuinness raised the issue of social media articles & pages stating that The Heather Court Hotel is to host 100 asylum seekers.
But Cllr McGuinness told KCLR News it’s not true noting “I saw Facebook pages that were set up that were against a direct provision centre in Ballyragget but the fact is is that it’s simply not true, I was told that it was fake news, I was told that Kilkenny County Council have no plans to put in a direct provision centre in Ballyragget in The Heather Court Hotel and that the Department of Justice have also confirmed that there are no plans to put in a direct provision centre anywhere in Kilkenny so I think people need to be aware that what they read on social media is not always true”.
He added “On one side you can understand why people in the general public were concerned about it and on the other side as well this fake news has wasted tax payers’ money in the housing section that’s already under pressure, we have a homeless crisis in Kilkenny and stories like this do not help those situations and it’s an absolute disgrace that it was circulated online”.
Director of Services with the local authority Mary Mulholland & had this to say about the social media reports “I have no reason to believe that there is any truth to them, we have no information in Kilkenny County Council relating to the provision of a refuge centre in Ballyragget or anywhere else in Kilkenny. We have in recent days queried with the Department of Justice whose responsibility it is to provide reception centres as to whether they are investigating or looking at any proposed sites in Kilkenny and they have confirmed to us that they are not at the present time looking at any sites in Kilkenny, that’s as clear as I can make it”.
She added “From a local authority point of view it has disrupted our provision of housing services to people who needed it in the last few days and that is extremely regrettable, it’s extremely regrettable that any material can be put up on social media, it can be taken as truth whether it has or has not got any basis in reality, doesn’t have to be tested but the real unfortunate thing about that is the impact it has on people & places, it’s had a huge impact on the housing section & on the service we’ve been delivering in the last few days, that just shouldn’t happen”.
