Call for vacant camp-bed lodgings intended for Ukrainians to be made available for asylum seekers

A Government Minister has called for hundreds of vacant ‘rest centre’ beds to be made available to house asylum seekers.

According to Department of Integration figures, there are almost 1,250 vacant beds in ‘rest centre’ style accommodation amid an ongoing crisis in sourcing space for asylum seekers, new figures show.

The beds are spread across 27 so-called rest centres, which were initially opened to provide capacity for Ukrainians. However, the accommodation shortage is now most acute for those seeking International Protection (IP) - fleeing to Ireland from other parts of the world.

There are currently around 500 IP applicants who the State has said it has not been able to offer accommodation to due to a shortage.

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The vacant accommodation consists of camp-bed style lodgings in the likes of parish halls and community centres.

According to Department of Integration figures, the total capacity across the 27 rest centres is 1,491, but only 246 people are currently accommodated within them.

In a statement, Minister of State for Integration Joe O’Brien said: “I fully appreciate that local authorities have a lot on their plates and were asked to do a specific job at a specific point in time.

“However, we are now in a very different situation and I think it’s reasonable to ask that its explored how even some of these could be made available for use for international protection applicants.

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The Department of Housing said in a statement: “Local authorities are supporting the whole of government approach to the Ukraine humanitarian crisis, including through the provision of rest centres, supporting a property refurbishment programme and facilitating offers of accommodation through the Offer a Home programme.

“Local authorities are also assisting the whole of government approach to sourcing accommodation for International Protection applicants, where possible. This has included identifying vacant properties that may be suitable for refurbishment and use as accommodation centres, to be progressed by the Department of Integration as appropriate to review or progress.

“Local authorities are also engaging with the request from the Department of Integration to establish if there is any capacity for additional rest centres specifically for use by those seeking international protection.”

Pod potential

Meanwhile, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has said pod-style accommodation has “vast potential” to house migrants quicker.

The Minister said three pilot projects – one in Columb Barracks in Mullingar – would be fast, “good quality” accommodation that would be easier to find sites for compared with modular housing.

He was speaking on Friday as he opened 28 new social homes in Swords in north Dublin, to be managed by the Iveagh Trust.

He said that the pod-style accommodation is different from the rapid-build modular homes the government is working on, and that it would be easier to find suitable sites to place them.

“Actually, the local authorities, under my direction, identified the sites [for modular homes]. That work is under way, we’ll have 750 modular homes through the Office of Public Works,” he said.

“I think that [pods] can potentially provide accommodation quicker, is more open to maybe more difficult sites like brownfield sites as well.

“Some of the modular [homes], there’s certain topographies of sites that are needed to get that in, so difficult sites can make that harder.

“But I believe and Cabinet believe there’s real potential in the pods and I would like to provide them at scale, in addition to what we’re doing about refurbishing.”

He said that Con Murray, a former chief executive of Limerick city and county council, has been working for the department for a number of weeks to “scale up accommodation” for Ukrainians and for international protection applicants, which he said “falls under the Department of Children and Roderic, but we support them in that space”.

When asked how widespread pod-style accommodation would be, Mr O’Brien said “at scale is at scale”.

“[I’m] not going to put a number on it yet, but I want to see it scaled up and scaled up quickly, and scaled up means initially in the hundreds, and to build on it from there,” he added.

“It is important they’re designed properly, you’re not just dropping them into a field, you need to have all the other siteworks done as well.” - Additional reporting: PA