The Minister of State, Mr Martin Cullen, arrived in Amsterdam less than 24 hours before the Cabinet announcement on a package aimed at providing accommodation for thousands of asylum-seekers and took a lightning tour of Dutch facilities.
Yesterday morning he visited a Dutch "flotel" moored outside the village of Woudrichem about 50 miles from Rotterdam where nearly 300 asylum-seekers representing more than 30 nationalities are temporarily housed.
Mr Cullen was also shown a purpose-built centre housing 400 refugees in the southern suburbs of Amsterdam. Typical of the Dutch no-frills approach to catering for asylum-seekers, it provides basic accommodation on a three-per-room basis. They cook their own meals, and adults are expected to feed and clothe themselves on an allowance of about £29 a week each with £10 for each child.
Mr Maarten Visser of the central organisation for accommodating the 66,000 asylum-seekers in the Netherlands said: "Up to three years ago we were giving asylum-seekers three meals a day and all kinds of recreational amenities and sports facilities were laid on, but the thinking now is to make asylum-seekers learn as quickly as possible to stand on their own feet and find their way around and avoid any institutionalised approach."
At Woudrichem, staff at the Embrica Marcel said the Minister appeared "taken aback" by how small the rooms were in which three adults and families of up to five spend their time.
The centre's director, Mr Joost van Gerven, said it was clear the Irish wanted to have more space. "In Holland we used to think generously, too, but with the unceasing tide of asylum-seekers and the huge drain on the State, we have had to re-plan our strategy much more modestly."