Mayo County Council have provided a response to Councillor Peter Flynn’s claims that the latest report on refugees and asylum seekers in the county is ‘flawed and inaccurate’.

The report was sought by elected Councillors from Council managements last July, but was only delivered at the end of last month.

Westport Fine Gael Councillor Flynn highlighted a number of problems with the report, including that the figure of 3,800 asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the county over the past year is in fact much greater - at 5,300.

Mayo County Council issued the following press release to Midwest Radio News this afternoon:

The Members of Mayo County Council adopted a resolution at a recent meeting requesting that the Chief Executive undertake a report to evaluate the impact of the number of refugees in Mayo.

An external consultant was commissioned to provide an external and independent report in this regard.

The report has been circulated to all Councillors but has not yet been considered by the full Council and therefore any comment at this stage would be considered inappropriate.

If the Members, on consideration of the report as a full Council, require further or more detailed analysis or additional work undertaken then this will be prepared and provided in accordance with any detailed requirements which may be outlined.