By Dionne Meehan
AN event showcasing Donegal’s welcoming spirit will be held in Ramelton next week which has been organised in response to the recent riots in Dublin.
Embarrassed by what happened on the streets of the capital, Owners of the Bridge Bar Restaurant, Roisin Llorente and her husband Matthias Llorente wanted to prove that not everyone is tarred with the same brush.
With the help of Declan Meehan, who is manager of Milford and District Resource Centre, the three have planned an event aimed at showing Donegal’s “welcoming” and “supportive” side.
The Open Evening is set to take place at Ramelton Community Centre on Wednesday, December 13 at 6.30pm.
Speaking to the Donegal News ahead of the event, Declan said not only was this event planned in response what happened in Dublin, but also what is happening closer to home.
“We have seen demonstrations and attacks on buildings that are meant for refugee accommodation or for asylum seeker accommodation.
“In response to all that, we wanted to give people the opportunity to come and show their support at this event because I think the vast majority of people in Donegal are extremely welcoming.
“It is a very informal event, it is just a get together with some food and it is something I am very happy to be working on,” he said.
With the event giving people the opportunity to show their support, Declan said it is also to counteract the negative narrative that can exist sometimes around refugees and immigrants.
“My experience is that it gets an awful lot of air time but it is a very vocal minority who think in that way.
“The aim is to show that there is another side to us,” he said.
Working closely with many different communities in his line of work, Declan said the population in Milford alone grew 25 per cent over a four month period when the war broke out in Ukraine.
“Those people were in need of really basic things and I think we forget that as time has gone on.
“People came with the shirt on their back and with their children in their arms so there was an awful lot of work needed to be done at the time co-ordinating the really generous response from the local people in terms of donations, not just of money, but of basics and clothing.
“It has been an honour to work with those communities since last year, it has been really rewarding and that has been paid back tenfold with people being involved in the local community,” he said.
Agreeing with Declan, Roisin said there is no need to have any animosity against new people coming into the town.
“Local communities always benefit from diversity in the community, it is important.
“New people coming in with different religions, different backgrounds and different traditions only help small communities in my opinion,” she said.
With locals “rallying” around to make this a fun and welcoming event, Roisin said she just wanted to show the newcomers in the area “a little bit of support”.
Staying away from the deeper political side of things, she said they will be sticking to what they know best.
“I am a chef, we cook.
“People coming together to eat is always a great way to bring communities and people together.
“You sit round the table, you enjoy a meal together and that can open up a lot of conversations.
“We only know food and traditions of food in any country always bring people together,” she said.
And with some light refreshments being served on the night, Roisin and her husband expect to do just that.
Despite the Open Evening being held in Ramelton, the event is open to everyone.
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