A plan to accommodate asylum-seekers in disused Army barracks around the State is being considered by senior civil servants.
The proposal was put yesterday by the Department of Defence to the Interdepartmental Committee on Immigration and Asylum, which is currently drawing up proposals for the dispersal of asylum-seekers outside Dublin.
The Department of Defence yesterday gave the committee a list of vacant Army and FCA barracks which might be suitable for the accommodation of refugees. One of the premises listed is McKee Barracks in Kildare, which is already accommodating Kosovar refugees.
A source stressed to The Irish Times last night that no decisions had been taken and that the Department of Defence move was at proposal stage. "Many of these barracks are not suitable or up to standard," the source said.
The committee has received 3,000 offers of accommodation throughout the State for the accommodation of refugees, including offers from local authorities. It is hoped that the dispersal of asylum-seekers will begin before Christmas and will take the pressure off accommodation in Dublin.
The committee is also to draw up proposals for direct provision for refugees. One of the options being considered is to provide accommodation and food, and the only cash they will be given will be "pocket money".
It emerged also yesterday that the Taoiseach has convened a meeting of Ministers for next week to discuss the refugee crisis following a discussion at Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice was last night called on to investigate an alleged racist incident last month in which two Ghanaian women were refused entry to the State.
The Fine Gael TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, Mr John Browne, told the Dail that there was a prima facie case that the Ghanaian women "were drummed out of Ireland because of the colour of their skin.
"This amounts to blatant racism. In the absence of a credible explanation the Minister and his officials stand indicted," he claimed.
The two Ghanaians, Mrs Jackie Dusey and Ms Beverley Smith, are both British citizens. They travelled to Ireland with a colleague, Dublin-born Ms Linette Wall, for the wedding of a work-mate, Ms Linda Dempsey, in Carlow on October 14th. The party arrived by ferry at Dun Laoghaire.
The bride told The Irish Times last night that when they arrived in Dun Laoghaire, a garda stopped them as they drove off the ship.
"Beverley and Jackie produced their driving licence, their bank cards and wedding invitations, but the garda insisted that they would not be let into the country.
"Linette is from Ballinteer and rang her mother who drove to the port and vouched for Beverley and Jackie. She even offered to go guarantor for them, but to no avail."
However, the Minister of State for Justice, Ms Mary Wallace said the two women had neither passports nor valid entry visas for Ireland which they should have because they were Ghanaian nationals. She said it was "in order to refuse them leave to land". Ms Wallace pointed out that the Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland is for the benefit of Irish and UK nationals only.