RTÉ hears from the clientele at the "New Communities Clinic" on Gardiner Street (Ireland)

RTÉ hears from the clientele at the "New Communities Clinic" on Gardiner Street

Paddy O'Gorman joins Miriam O'Callaghan to discuss the "New Communities Clinic" which is run by the Department of Social Protection on Gardiner St in Dublin which O'Gorman says caters to "any foreign national awaiting for residency deliberations or people looking for emergency payments". It also caters to homeless Irish women but not men.

O'Gorman says that if you walk by five days a week, you'll see clearly non-Irish people waiting there but he said a lot of African people were frightened of "a man with a microphone", not realising that they could refuse to talk to him.

O'Gorman first chats to a white South African who said he left South Africa due to farm murders which resulted in the death of his mother and brother and because "there's no work there for white people in South Africa." He came to Ireland because his grandmother was Irish and he learned he was therefor eligible for Irish citizenship.

Last August, an alleged expert, Martin Plaut, told Sean Moncrieff that the murders of white farmers in South Africa was nothing extraordinary in comparison to the general murder rate in the country and played down the concerns of Donald Trump who was highlighting the issue.
https://www.invidio.us/watch?v=IIRA3pCgSl4

O'Gorman next chats to a Roma family of seven including five children who told him that they were not given any money. The father said he had been two years in Ireland but hadn't received any child benefit or their free house. O'Gorman read the refusal notice from the Department of Social protection which stated that the officer did not believe the family satisfied the conditions of habitual residence. The father said he couldn't stay in Romania because there is nothing and they don't give you any free money.

Next O'Gorman heard from a Somalian whose asylum claim was rejected. It had at one stage been approved but then it was revoked for reasons left unexplained. He said he had been in Ireland for twelve years but didn't get a payment today at the clinic. He is not asked why he hasn't been deported. He said Ireland is like a second home.

Next a homeless Irish woman tells O'Gorman that she has been sleeping in a tent in the Phoenix Park for four months. She said all her clothes are damp and that the clinic wouldn't even give her ten euro to buy new underwear and socks.

Finally a Sudanese man tells O'Gorman that Ireland is the best country in Europe. He had been homeless in the UK for ten years but when he moved to Ireland, he got a free house "and a lot of money"

"...me, I'm happy to be here."

Broadcast: The Seán O'Rourke Show | RTÉ Radio One | 29 Aprl 2019

https://www.invidio.us/channel/UCgzyycFR6PEv-B90rAiFsQg