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THE FATHER OF a young family who were inside the Ipas centre on George’s Street in Drogheda on the night of last month’s blaze has thanked the community for their support in the weeks since the fire.
Firefighters rescued five people from the top floor of the building on Halloween night.
Of those five, three of them were from 32-year-old Bilal’s family – his wife and their two infant children.
Their 10-day-old boy had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
The father, originally from Algeria, had been working a night shift at the time.
As he had to place his phone in a locker at work, he only found what had happened when he took his break and picked up his phone.
“My friend was passing by and sent me a video of the fire, it had the fire brigade outside.”
Speaking with the assistance of an interpreter this afternoon, Bilal explained that his family were staying on the upper floor of the building.
“When the fire started coming up the floors, they started screaming.
“My wife was holding the baby and she brought the children and into one room, so the fire brigade whizzed them from the window of the building,” Bilal said.
A video seen by The Journal showed the youngster in a cot in hospital afterwards, blissfully unaware of the dramatic scenes that had engulfed his family’s home only hours earlier.
Photos Bilal took of the effect of the fire at the Ipas centre (above) show how wall fixtures were melted and the stairs blackened due to the flames.
As a result of the blaze, 28 residents have been unable to return to the centre.
Bilal said many of the residents happened to be out when the fire broke out, as families were marking Halloween.
The residents affected are now living in different accommodation provided by state agencies elsewhere in the region.
Bilal says his family are still reeling from what happened.
“My wife is traumatised and the baby, he is not sleeping well after the fire.”
Two men are currently before the courts accused of committing arson with intent to endanger life.
Bilal was speaking at a protest in Dublin, backed by a number of TDs, calling for asylum seekers already in the country to be granted an amnesty and allowed to stay. The demonstration was organised by a group called Abolish Direct Provision Ireland.
He told how he had worked as an electrician and had been earning a “good living” in the trade. But his family faced threats in Algeria, prompting he and his wife to leave for Ireland two years ago.
He said if he hadn’t felt unsafe “I wouldn’t have come to Ireland”.
According to Amnesty International, there has been a “severe crackdown” on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in Algeria.
More than one hundred other people seeking asylum in Ireland, and their supporters, took part in today’s demonstration outside the Dáil.
Protesters carried banners with messages appealing for an amnesty for their members awaiting a decision on their case. The last such amnesty was granted three years ago.
Today’s protesters also took aim at Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan. One banner mocked the government’s plan to pay asylum seekers to drop their claim and return to their homeland.
It carried a message directed at O’Callaghan, saying that people in the international protection system came to Ireland “for safety not money”.
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