At the remote Kilbride Army Camp, a man seeking asylum died before paramedics reached him

This article mentions suicidal ideation. If you or somebody you know might need help, Pieta House’s suicide prevention hotline can be contacted 24/7 at 1800 247 247 and the Samaritans’ at 116 123.

The man collapsed at Kilbride Army Camp on 16 June. He had been there to collect his post.

“He had been transferred elsewhere,” said Bulelani Mfaco, who has lived in the remote Co. Wicklow emergency asylum shelter since April.

Staff called an ambulance and tried to resuscitate him and keep him alive, says Mfaco.

By the time an ambulance arrived, he had died.

“It took an hour and forty-five minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Unfortunately, he’d passed away,” says Nicola Perry, CEO of Safetynet, a medical charity caring for marginalised patients.

Residents are now concerned that, should anything happen to them, delays in reaching them could also endanger their lives, an email to the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) shows.

“The location of the place makes us believe that he may have survived if he had been closer to a medical facility,” they wrote.

A GP at Safetynet also wrote to IPAS, voicing concerns about the remoteness of the asylum camp, what had happened that day, and also the impact of a lack of transport on the mental health of those who live there, show documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

“We were very clear about what happened and our concerns about it,” said Perry.

A HSE spokesperson hasn’t responded to queries sent last week and again on Tuesday, including one asking how long it took for the ambulance to arrive that day and why it took a long time and what the average ambulance arrival time for that area is.

Last month, Green Party TD Roderic O’Gorman, the outgoing Minister for Children and Equality – which oversees IPAS –  told the Dáil that a tight supply of beds means IPAS can’t afford to turn down any offer of suitable shelter for asylum seekers, no matter where it is.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Equality said it couldn’t say much about the person’s death or any specific centre because it might reveal the identity of the deceased or family members.

It’s liaising with the HSE to find better ways to meet the healthcare needs of people in its shelters, they said.

Lingering distress

The man died right outside the camp’s gates, says Mfaco. His body lay there for some time, and staff asked residents to use the emergency exit door to leave until his body was removed, he says.

On 9 July, the GP in Safetynet wrote to IPAS that one of their patients living in the barracks had mentioned the man’s death. “[He] was very distressed,” the email says.

The email from residents to IPAS says there have been health crises at the centre before. It always takes too long for ambulances to arrive, it says.

Perry, CEO of Safetynet, said they haven’t heard of another incident in Kilbride like the death in June. But patients living there say it has left them traumatised, she said.

“What it appears to have done is to create an additional sense of unease, or you know, discomfort in the residents about how isolated they are,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Equality said on top of liaising with the HSE on ways to offer better healthcare, it has a dedicated resident welfare team and support workers.

They “direct highly vulnerable residents […] and those with specific health needs to relevant health services”, they said.

Hard times

The impact of isolating those seeking asylum has been flagged with the government.

The external advisory group for ending the direct provision system had asked in July 2023 that the government not place people seeking asylum “in remote locations without transport links”.

Yet, the practice continues.

The letter in July this year from the Safetynet GP to IPAS mentions how the isolation is harming residents at the Kilbride camp.

“There is no public transport available to it,” the email says.

Those with work permits find it hard to work still because of difficulties trekking all the way to jobs, wrote the GP in Safetynet to IPAS in July.

Patients in the barracks are reporting a higher level of suicidal thoughts, it says.

“We have had a patient who threatened hunger strike.”

That asylum seekers struggle to access mental healthcare, and that isolation in remote areas can worsen symptoms of depression and mental illness, had also been flagged in correspondence from IPAS to the HSE throughout last year.

Has access to mental health care improved? Perry, the CEO of Safetynet, says not.

Access is still as limited as ever for all kinds of people in the country who need and deserve mental healthcare, she said.

Asylum seekers are particularly at risk, though, and may experience trauma over and over while navigating hardships of the asylum system and are more likely to become suicidal, Perry said.

“Many of the residents in the centre would often come from having seen traumatic events,” she says.

The email from residents to IPAS says they’ve been left to grapple with the trauma of watching the man die in the camp alone.

“We’ve received no support from IPAS or HSE to help with the trauma,” it says.

Out of reach

In their letter, the Safetynet GP asked IPAS to introduce a bus link from Kilbride Army Camp that runs from 7am to 9pm. “The cost of this could be met via the current agreement between the accommodation providers and IPAS,” they wrote.

If residents could bus to work, it would help with anxiety, the letter says, and the government would benefit from the taxes they pay.

The email from residents said they were losing job offers, education and training opportunities because of the distance and scarcity of transport options.

“We have had a reoccurring problem with the bus that doesn’t show up sometimes without notice leaving people stranded both in Kilbride Army Camp and in Tallaght,” it says.

Cabs also don’t turn up sometimes because they don’t want to drive that far, the residents wrote.

Mfaco, the army camp resident, says at the time that the centre only arranged one bus a day to and out of the centre. Now that is up to three, he says.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Equality said if a centre is 2km away from local services and amenities such as doctors’ offices then it is up to the accommodation provider to close the gap by offering proper transport options.

“IPAS centres are located in urban and rural settings across Ireland, with varying levels of proximity to public transport,” they said.

A spokesperson for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ireland said it is concerned about the government’s growing dependence on emergency asylum shelters with lower standards.

“Long-term reliance on emergency facilities is not conducive to the physical and mental health of [international protection] applicants, or to their social, economic or cultural integration,” they said.

O’Gorman, the outgoing minister for Children and Equality, told the Dáil last month that IPAS had to open emergency asylum centres all over Ireland out of a profound need for space.

But “intensive efforts” are underway to source suitable shelters, he said.

“Since last December 2023, over 2,700 people who have applied for international protection […] have not been offered accommodation,” O’Gorman said on 7 November.