The Department of Justice's first purpose-built accommodation centre, outside Limerick, has 190 asylum-seekers staying there after four months of operation.
The latest arrivals were on Thursday, when 30 people were bussed from Dublin to Knockalisheen, a former Army camp two miles from Limerick, to begin their new lives while waiting for their applications to be processed.
The centre, built on a greenfield site following the purchase by the Office of Public Works of 160 acres of Department of Defence lands, is on a low slope overlooking the city. The Army camp once housed Hungarian refugees, following the Soviet crackdown on the uprising in 1956. "Hungarians are happy in their new surroundings," the Limerick Leader headline ran at the time.
Knockalisheen came to prominence when the 161 refugees went on hunger strike over conditions. The strike was eventually called off and the refugees went across the Atlantic to seek their fortunes there.
Forty years later, the Department of Justice's Reception and Integration Agency is counting on less controversy. Instead of Nissen huts, the asylum-seekers are housed in six system-built, two-storey "Tilden" units which appear, from afar, like blocks and mortar. The centre can accommodate up to 300 people and has on-site medical facilities, a bus service and recreation and workshop areas.
Mr Abraham Shabir, a father of three, from Somalia, said: "People tend to be genial. The place is very nice. It is so peaceful."
The units are easily mounted and dismantled, Comdt Maree Flynn, who has been seconded to the agency, said. Families are housed together and individuals share rooms with two others. The centre's operation has been sub-contracted to Eurest catering company.
The Knockalisheen manager, Ms Theresa Ryan, said life centres around the restaurant and catering facilities. "They are here all day. We have to completely look after all their needs from morning to night-time."
This includes providing formula milk, baby food and packed lunches for the 12 children attending schools in the nearby village of Meelick and in Limerick city.
Head chef Mr Gopal Prasard, from India, said the spud rarely gets a look in. The staple foods he cooks are rice, maize and pasta. "If you do not give rice, they walk," he jokes.