Government scrambles to identify State-owned lands to accommodate asylum seekers
Removal Of Erected Fencing Grand Dublin's After Sam At Boal/collins Picture: Yesterday Canal Tents
State-owned sites previously ruled out for asylum accommodation are to be reassessed as the Government struggles to deal with record numbers of people arriving here.
Defence Forces and HSE lands are understood to be among the sites that will be re-examined after the Government admitted that further tent encampments could emerge across parts of Dublin city centre as the State currently cannot offer accommodation to all asylum seekers arriving here.
It comes as more than 160 migrants were moved from a makeshift encampment on Dublin’s Grand Canal in a multi-agency operation early yesterday.
What has been described as an “elaborate maze” of barriers has now been erected to prevent further tents being pitched.
“It’s almost a dystopian view if you go down there, you will see the use of construction fences covering every inch, it’s almost like some sort of elaborate maze that has been constructed there,” Stephen Roche of Social Rights Ireland said.
“The question is, is this going to be now incrementally creeping all over the city?" he said on RTÉ.
"There are people still arriving in need of accommodation. The Government hasn’t actually changed its policy so people who are presenting and applying for international protection are not being given accommodation."
Labour leader Ivana Bacik also hit out at “short-term thinking” from Government, adding that it is “impossible to fence off every public area in the city”.
Record numbers of asylum seekers arrived in Ireland last week, with more than 600 new arrivals seeking protection. It is understood that the numbers are similar this week, with around 130 people arriving each day.
The Government promised earlier this year to build six large State-run reception centres to house asylum seekers but now it is scrambling to identify any State facilities or sites that could be rapidly brought into use for tented accommodation.
One senior Government source said: “A good site will do us, rather than a perfect site.”
Despite the large numbers of asylum seekers arriving however, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman said he is not considering using university campus accommodation over the summer months, with officials claiming it would simply “compound the problem” when students return in the autumn.
A spokesperson for the Department of Higher Education confirmed that there has been “no formal request” to universities to assist with providing accommodation.
While Defence Forces sites are being considered, active military locations are unlikely to be used due to health and safety issues.
“State land is the immediate priority because that is the most straight forward to set up, but even within that there are varying degrees depending on the site and the buildings that are on it,” a senior source said.
Taoiseach Simon Harris insisted yesterday that the days of long-term encampments “are gone”, however, Tánaiste Micheál Martin could not promise that further tent villages will not emerge in the coming days or weeks. Both leaders stressed that any camps that do appear will be dismantled.
Within hours of the Grand Canal camp being dismantled, newly-erected tents were seen near Herbert Park in south Dublin, as well as along Custom House Quay, Samuel Beckett Bridge, and Clontarf Park.