Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has denied that the Government was “caving to protesters”.
“What the government is doing is listening carefully,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
“We have international obligations and we have women, children, men, families who are in some cases fleeing war, like in Ukraine and some other places. And we have people fleeing pretty horrific situations in their own countries.
And we have an obligation, just as the rest of the world did for us when we had to flee.”
Mr Donnelly said that what had happened in Roscrea “should not have happened” and must have been very traumatic for the children and families being brought into what was “essentially their refuge, their new home.”
Some communities, such as Roscrea and others, had taken in a lot of people, he said.
When asked if there should be a dividend for communities that take in large numbers of asylum seekers, Mr Donnelly said that was “pretty reasonable.”
“I think if communities are taking people in, we have to look at the health services, the education services.
"And if you have a town like Roscrea where there are no hotels left because of the amount of people that they have taken, then I believe this proposal, I think might have come from Deputy Jackie Cahill, I think it's the Government listening and responding and saying, look, we have obligations, but we also have to support communities as they bring people in.”
On RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill outlined details of plans for the Government to purchase an empty hotel in the centre of Roscrea to be turned into a community hotel, work on which he hoped would commence as quickly as possible.
“We are listening to the people of Roscrea. We fully understand their concerns, and we're putting forward what is a practical plan, because it was a hotel in the middle of the town.
"And while it won't solve everything, I think it will be a major step in the people realising the Government is listening to them and we're trying to address the issues you have with the large number of asylum seekers and refugees that you have in the town.”
Unfortunately it was a fact of life that there was a shortage of GPs in rural Ireland, he added. It was the same with dentists, both of which were raised with the Minister for Integration when he met with local representatives on Tuesday.
“We want a focus to make sure the proper services are there for the significant increase in population that is happening there.”
Mr Cahill said he supported the right to protest, but he hoped that the protestors outside Racket Hall would see that the Government was making a “genuine effort to address their concerns”.
“I would obviously hope that protests would always remain peaceful and calm.
"We had 17 people come into the community earlier in the week. We saw the children going into the hotel. You know, they were in a distressed state.
"So I would hope for these refugees to begin integrating into the town. I would love to see the protest end, but that's a decision for the people who are at Racket Hall.”
