THE Eastern Health Board may have nowhere for refugees to stay this summer when tourists book up Dublin's hotels and B&Bs, the chief executive of the Homeless, Initiative warned yesterday.
According to source, so little accommodation is available that EHB officials have booked refugee families into hotel rooms at up to £100 a night.
If rooms are pre-booked for a weekend, the board has to find alternative accommodation for refugee families. This is believed to have led to protests from refugees angry at having to move their families again.
The chief executive of the joint EHB/Dublin Corporation Homeless Initiative, Ms Mary Higgins, said, with the tourist season coming, there would be fewer hotel places.
"But why is it the EHB's problem?" she said. "It should not just be left to them." A strategy for dealing with refugees which did not place the whole burden on the EHB was needed.
Refugees should not be blamed for a problem which was not of their making, she said. The view was echoed by IMPACT which says it "supports the 1996 Refugee Act as the humane response of a civilised and compassionate country".
An EHB spokeswoman said in a statement: "We provide B&B accommodation for refugees. As far as I can ascertain, we only use hotels very rarely." However, reliable sources were adamant that the use of hotels was far from rare.
Ms Higgins said refugees seemed more acceptable to some landlords who would not rent accommodation to homeless people depending on EHB rent supplements.