'I have no doubt they'll make great friends': New arrivals lend helping hands to clean up Fermoy town 

WEEKS after 52 people seeking international protection arrived in a north Cork town, almost half of them are volunteering with the local Tidy Towns organisation.

Around lunchtime on Thursday, March 21, local members of An Garda Síochána closed off Fermoy’s Rathealy Road and, with the Garda public order unit in a support role, escorted 52 people, mostly in families, into the back entrance of Abbeyville House, which had recently been refurbished as an accommodation centre.

In the weeks since, residents have settled into their new accommodation, and most of the 23 adults in the centre have begun volunteering with Fermoy Tidy Towns (FTT).

Abbeyville House is Fermoy’s second accommodation centre for people seeking international protection, after the former St Joseph’s Convent, which is home to 140 people, 69 of them children. 

The town’s former Grand Hotel was converted in mid-2022 to accommodate approximately 30 Ukrainian refugees.

On a recent evening, in bright but unseasonably chilly conditions, about a dozen of the residents were working outside Abbeyville House, cleaning and weeding the pavement and road.

By the end of the evening, over 20 bags of weeds and litter had been collected, and the flowerpots along the pavement had been planted with pansies and violets.

Noel McCarthy, Fine Gael county councillor and chair of FTT, said the group was grateful for the contribution of the new arrivals, and he said he had received overwhelmingly positive feedback from locals.

“We’re delighted to have the people from Abbeyville, like the friends from St Joseph’s and the Ukrainian friends, helping us in the Tidy Towns.

“They’re nice and friendly people and I have no doubt they’ll make great friends and I’m delighted they’re making Fermoy a better place, and we really appreciate their help,” he said.

Paul Kavanagh, FTT project manager, said that most of the volunteers working that night were from Abbeyville House.

“After all the criticism of them, here they are, doing a major clean-up, making Fermoy better and cleaner, and maybe it’s time to kill some of the myths about people seeking asylum in our town.

“These people have huge pride in their new home and they’re on €38.80 a week,” he said, referring to the amount paid weekly to adults seeking international protection.

One of the volunteers, Omosolape Olagunju came to Ireland from Nigeria, and she said Fermoy is a very calm and peaceful place for her children, who are 15, 12 and nine.

“My kids are happy since we came here. I lost my husband, and we have been very depressed, but we are so happy here, and their school is so lovely.

“I enjoy this work, because it helps me when I feel stressful,” Ms Olagunju said.

Carlos Buhendwa, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, arrived in Fermoy in March.

“I’m so happy to be in Ireland, and working with Tidy Towns.

“What can I say, this is my new home, thanks everyone in Fermoy for being so friendly,” Mr Buhendwa said.

“People from Fermoy, they are welcoming people.”