The Government is finalising plans to build a nationwide chain of centres for asylum seekers, each accommodating about 400 people, a spokesman said today.
The go-ahead for the first centre, on a site near Dublin Airport, will be given shortly.
The spokesman said tenders were being sought for at least 10 other centres on sites "adjacent to major cities and towns throughout the country."
The new plan is a bid to cope with the ongoing accommodation crisis caused by the continuing arrival of almost 800 asylum seekers a month.
Currently, around 4,000 asylum seekers are being accommodated in 74 hotels, guest houses and hostels around the country.
"The decision to establish these new facilities has been taken because the private accommodation market is now nearly exhausted," a Department of Justice spokesman said.
Under the present system, asylum seekers are provided with food and lodging and £15 (euro 19) a week.
The spokesman stressed that the planned new accommodation, which will include medical and recreation facilities, was not detention centres and asylum seekers would be free to come and go as they pleased.
AFP