https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/0131/1494137-east-wall-ipas-centre
An IPAS centre which was the target of anti-immigration protests in Dublin two years ago, opened its doors to highlight how it has been embraced by the community.
There are currently 450 people living in the Gateway Integration Centre in East Wall, including families, couples and single people.
Team-building initiatives like sports and creative activities have helped create diversity and integration in the area.
Janeth Justiniano was one of the first residents of the East Wall IPAS centre and among those who faced protests when it was first established. She said there was a lot of fear amongst residents but security and staff at the centre kept calm, reassuring them that they would be safe.
For a time, residents did not speak to people when they ventured outside and lived in heightened anxiety over the prospect of being recognised or targeted.
After four months of the centre operating, Sinéad Fennelly took on the role of manager.
“We set about a project of renovating the building and bringing it to a standard that was great for the residents. It just set a sense of calm around the centre,” she said.
The ground floor of the centre is dedicated to spaces aimed to enhance the lives and prospects of residents. There is an English language classroom, a playroom, a training barber shop, a training nail salon, a HSE cubicle, a post office and administration rooms.
Janeth Justiniano spends much of her time in the sewing room, which doubles as a clothing donation room established by East Wall for All.
Ms Justiniano learned to knit, crochet and sew and now she is teaching her new skills to others who arrive at the centre.
“I want to help the people who maybe like me, come here with problems. I want to help them,” she said.
The local community has been hugely supportive of residents.
Sport and sports funding was repeatedly highlighted as a means of embracing diversity.
On a football field, for example, everyone has the same unified purpose to beat the opposing team. Jonathan Dowling of Belvedere Youth Club, where some of the teenagers have found a new purpose, described football as “a mobilisation tool” creating “harmony”.
He said when the protests took place, outside “influencers” impacted one of the most welcoming communities in the country.
“The people of the north inner city have a wealth of knowledge and are well educated and highly clued in and very accepting.
“It didn’t feel right to me. It felt to me they were being influenced by people coming in and clouding the vision. There was a bit of a divide and conquer tactic, in so far as, they were blaming the people coming in on the issues that were presenting.”
However, Mr Dowling said the community has “got by that now” and reiterated that the north east inner city is very welcoming, open and very honest.
Sinéad Fennelly commended the East Wall community and the groups that supported those living and working in the centre from the beginning. “There was more support than there was not, it seemed like there wasn’t (support), but all in all, there were great groups around us from the beginning and they could see what we were doing in the centre, the investment we put into the centre. We wanted to make it the best it could possibly be,” she said.,
The centre has offered more to Janeth Justiniano than she could ever have envisaged on her arrival in East Wall, consumed by fear.
An advocate of knitting to keep depression at bay, she expressed gratitude to the Irish people for their kindness and friendship.
She is about to create 30 Bolivian Dresses for St Patrick’s Day, which she plans to attend with the ballet group she has established at the centre.
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