Social Affairs

Palestinians sleeping rough in Dublin face intimidation as 1,758 asylum seekers now homeless

An estimated 200 men now sleeping outside International Protection Office

'I’m not supposed to be here,' said Akeem, a farmer from Nigeria.

Jack White
Fri Apr 26 2024 - 20:04

Palestinians sleeping in tents at the International Protection Office on Dublin’s Mount Street have faced intimidation as they spend weeks on the street.

The number of asylum seekers without State-provided accommodation has risen to 1,758, an increase of 31 since Tuesday, according to the latest figures released on Friday.

More than 140 tents were pitched in the immediate area surrounding the International Protection Office (IPO) on Friday afternoon, accommodating an estimated 200 men.

Mohamed Elayan, a 25-year-old from Palestine who has been sleeping there for a month now, said he has been subjected to recurrent intimidation in addition to the cold weather and rain which seeps into his tent.

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Standing alongside his 24-year-old countryman Omar Maker, whom he met after arriving to Ireland, Mr Elayan said water is frequently thrown at them by passing cars which also beep loudly on passing throughout the night, making it hard to sleep.

“There are people who disturb these tents and come screaming,” he said, in broken English, adding: “It’s been difficult.”

“When they learned we are from Palestine, they put up the Israeli flag,” said Mr Maker, pointing up to a large Israeli flag draped across the window of an apartment overlooking them.

The number of homeless international protection applicants has decreased when compared with just under two weeks ago when 1,780 were homeless.

In the week leading up to April 21st, a new tented accommodation centre as well as three further emergency accommodation centres saw the number of homeless asylum seekers fall rather than increase for the first time in months.

A spokesman for the Department of Integration said 200 retrospective offers of accommodation were made in the last two weeks.

As of April 21st, the State was accommodating 29,283 international protection applicants, 7,056 of whom were children.

The latest weekly arrival data shows the majority of newly arrived international protection applicants were from Nigeria (145) followed by Pakistan (53) and Bangladesh (36).

Also on Mount Street is Akeem from Nigeria, who arrived to Dublin just two weeks ago.

“I’m not really okay, I can’t be okay here,” he said adding that he hopes he will be accommodated soon.

“I’m not supposed to be here,” he said explaining that he was a crop farmer with more than 20 acres of land in Nigeria but was forced to flee after becoming a target of herdsmen.

“They’re going into people’s farms and destroying the farm and when you try to prevent them, they kill people,” he said as he folded clothes and placed them in the sunlight atop his tent which is placed a few feet away from cars passing on Mount Street.

Drought and desertification in northern Nigeria have forced herdsmen to seek grazing lands further south, resulting in growing pressure on land resources and subsequent conflict.

At the beginning of April, herdsmen who do not own land but move from place to place with their cattle attacked and killed at least 21 villagers in the Nigerian state of Kogi.

After “standing up” to and repelling herdsmen who entered Akeem’s farm, he became a target.

“My house was burned, all of my crops were destroyed, I had to run for my life,” he said showing photos of the destruction on his phone.

Tents line the street next to the International Protection Office. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photo

“It’s unfortunate that at my age, I’m over 50, that I’m sleeping on this roadside,” he said before repeating “it’s so unfortunate” several times, frustrated.

“Sleeping here has not been easy, I have high blood pressure and diabetes and sleeping on the ground has given me a lot of back pain.

“Every morning when I wake up I have to trek down for 60 minutes to get food and to shower and come back here,” he said before once again expressing hope that he will be accommodated soon.

Since the State announced a “severe shortage” of accommodation on December 4th, some 2,683 single men have presented to the IPO; 272 were accommodated after being triaged for vulnerabilities.

A further 653 have since been accommodated.

Róisín McAleer, an activist with Social Rights Ireland, which is supporting the asylum seekers camped at the IPO, said the encampment has spread due to inaction.

“The inert response of Roderic O’Gorman’s department to this spiralling and unjust crisis is infuriating,” she said.

Another protest, in solidarity with homeless asylum seekers, is scheduled to take place at the IPO on Saturday.

Jack White

Jack White

Jack White is a reporter for The Irish Times

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