Why is it beyond those in power to use empty buildings to house people in an emergency situation?

Another week, another mess made of the rolling homelessness of refugees and asylum seekers on Dublin’s streets. For months now, too many people to mention have been crying out about the ridiculous situation in the centre of the capital.

The “response” (if you can even characterise it as that) has been fingers in the ears and hands over the eyes. Now we’re in a situation where vulnerable people are being woken up in the early hours of the morning, presented with vague information, having their tents and makeshift bedding taken and destroyed, and finding themselves shuttled to threadbare accommodation, before at least some return to the city centre. First Mount Street, now the banks of the Grand Canal. How many reports of disease, harassment, violence, and general vulnerability do we need to hear before the State does something that actually addresses this?

Moving people pillar to post and waiting for more tents to pop up again is not a strategy. It’s not even anything approaching necessary, fair, humane, appropriate, empathetic, realistic or satisfactory. And yet, on we go.

What we have seen on the streets of Dublin for months is an absolute disgrace

Last Thursday morning, 163 asylum seekers were moved from the banks of the Grand Canal. By Friday morning, more were in situ again. This is unacceptable, and not because it’s unsightly or inconvenient, but because the State has laws to uphold. In Dublin right now, refugees, asylum seekers, and anyone who is not white and Irish are consistently outlining their fear, harassment, abuse and much, much worse. And yet for months, these poor homeless refugees and asylum seekers have effectively been tossed aside by an uncaring state.

Nine in court over protests at south Co Dublin centre for asylum seekers

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Asylum seekers will have daily expenses allowance means-tested from next month

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Taoiseach condemns ‘idiotic’ attack on Tallaght building earmarked for asylum seekers

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Protests prevent international protection applicants accessing South Dublin accommodation

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[ Asylum-seeker encampments: More barriers erected along Dublin’s Grand Canal in bid to deter tents ]

We also have politicians, including the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, throwing out figures and percentages of people they say are travelling from the north of Ireland to the south, without any data available to back up what they’re saying, feeding into nonsense narratives that are all but calling for a hard border on the island.

“The laws of our land must always be upheld and we cannot have unsafe and illegal encampments in our cities or towns,” Micheál Martin was quoted as saying on May 1st, as though he were an opposition politician and not the Tánaiste – and as though vulnerable people who have nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep are somehow at fault. Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union declares “Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.” Article 4 declares, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

[ Accommodating asylum seekers: ‘Lurching from encampment crisis to encampment crisis is a gift to the far right’ ]

Last year, the High Court ruled that as Minister, Roderic O’Gorman had failed to provide a teenage Afghan asylum seeker with accommodation. This is unlawful. The Minister was found to be in breach of his obligations under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, in particular article 1. “Directing persons such as the applicant to private charities to receive supports which the Minister is obliged to give cannot be seen as anything other than completely unacceptable,” the judge wrote in his judgment. How many breaches of law are the Minister, his Government, and the State potentially responsible for now? Those laws are much more significant than whatever legal retribution some poor person may be met with for putting up a tent.

Moving people pillar to post and waiting for more tents to pop up again is not a strategy. It’s not even anything approaching what’s necessary, fair, humane, appropriate, empathetic, realistic or satisfactory

And yet, in this crisis, there’s a temporary emergency solution staring us in the face. The chronic issue of vacant buildings in Dublin city is well-documented, especially in Dublin 2. There are many large empty buildings in the immediate vicinity of these encampments. There are empty hospital buildings, empty offices, empty retail units. Why is it beyond both national and local government to use empty buildings to house people in an emergency situation? Where is the sense of urgency? You have people sleeping en masse on the banks of waterways, down laneways, on paths, all surrounded by empty buildings. Why is the obvious thing not being done?

[ More than 30 tents pitched along Grand Canal with extra barriers erected on popular walkway ]

Establish emergency accommodation centres in empty office blocks and other vacant buildings with decent security and sanitary facilities until alternative accommodation can be sourced. Of course it’s not ideal, but leaving hundreds of people on the street doesn’t just leave them vulnerable to illness and disease, they are also sitting ducks for racist idiots looking for a violent outlet for their unhinged hatred.

What is it about our political leaders that they’ll wait for serious issues to fall into crisis until they begin to address them?

[ Asylum seekers warned by Government of possible prosecutions for failure to move ]

What we have seen on the streets of Dublin for months is an absolute disgrace. Vulnerable people are suffering due to the Government’s effective abdication of its responsibilities, its inability to manage the crisis which is compounded by its utter lack of preparation and collapse in basic logistical planning. All of this has consequences – not just for those seeking asylum in Ireland, but for international law. Why has our Government been so bad at dealing with this?