In 2017 the town of Ballaghderreen in Co. Roscommon welcomed children and adults, mostly from Syria as they seek to obtain refugee status.

In 2017 the town of Ballaghderreen in Co. Roscommon welcomed children and adults, mostly from Syria as they seek to obtain refugee status. The people of Ballaghderreen have been working effortlessly over the past number of months to ensure that the new residents feel included and that they are given every opportunity to integrate into Irish society. With the arrival of the Syrian families to the town, the Committee of Ballaghaderreen Community Games was determined to play their part in helping their newest residents become acquainted with the wide programme of activities that are available.

The Ballaghaderreen Committee organised various Integration events for the Syrian children staying in the Direct Provision centre. These events ranged from "Family Fun/Integration Athletics Day", a "Gymnastics for Beginners" morning, "Art/Paint for beginners" afternoon and Skittles trainings sessions. The Family Fun day included a number of Community Games events as well as a number of novelty/fun events.

These events were organised free of charge and were open to everyone living in the Community. Transport to and from the Direct Provisions Centre was organised and provided without charge by a local bus company. Notice of these events were translated into Arabic by one of the Youth staying at the Direct Provision Centre, who also attended all events to help with translations & running of the events. 
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Additionally, all the children present took part in the creation of a Special Community Games mural of their hand-prints. The Theme circled around “Ballaghaderreen Community Games - Our Children/ Our Future”.

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