The Government is hopeful that asylum seekers can be moved within weeks to a portion of the site earmarked for the long-stalled ‘super prison’ at Thornton Hall in north Co Dublin.
With more tents being erected around Dublin by asylum seekers who have not received an offer of accommodation on their arrival, the pressure to find sites is acute. There are 1,780 asylum seekers awaiting an offer of accommodation, according to the latest International Protection Accommodation Service statistics.
It is understood that the Government believes a portion of the 160-acre Thornton Hall site can be made available for tented accommodation, sanitary facilities and kitchen and eating areas. It has long been earmarked as a potential site to accommodate asylum seekers.
The Cabinet was last year asked to approve tens of millions of funding for work on accommodation projects on State sites including Thornton Hall. Other sites identified at the time where tents have already been set up include Columb Barracks, Mullingar and the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin.
Taoiseach Simon Harris on Thursday said the Government needs to “very quickly” identify State-owned land where accommodation can be provided for asylum seekers. The number of tents pitched by homeless asylum seekers along the Grand Canal between Baggot Street and Leeson Street in Dublin increased from around 40 on Tuesday to around 90 on Thursday.
Hundreds of metres of barriers were erected last week along stretches of the canal in an attempt to prevent tents being pitched. This followed an operation involving gardaí, the HSE and Waterways Ireland to clear more than 100 tents and move some 160 people, mostly men, to State sites at Crooksling and Dundrum.
Mr Harris said he recognised that there “continues to be an issue with tents emerging” but he felt it was “very different” to the situation that recently developed on Mount Street, where an encampment formed due to its proximity to the International Protection Office.
“I believe an effective blind eye was turned by official Ireland to the development of what became almost a public health emergency. What we saw on Mount Street was appalling,” he said, adding that “a lot of intensive engagement” was going on to find sides where safe and sanitary tented accommodation could be provided.
However, he added that conversations about migration in Ireland “cannot begin and end every time with accommodation”.
“That is just one aspect of what needs to be looked at in terms of the sustainable migration system. We must also look at all the other aspects in relation to migration. We must also look at how the welfare system interacts, how we provide accommodation charges,” he added.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he believed Thronton Hall should be used to accommodate asylum seekers and that he understood work was underway between various departments in relation to its use. He said the Government was “exhausting every possible opportunity that exists” to utilise State land to help provide accommodation “in respect of the unprecedented numbers that have arrived into the country”.
Further restrictions on benefits to refugees and people seeking asylum are to be considered in the coming weeks as the Government seeks to reduce the numbers arriving and ease pressure on the asylum system. An estimated 27,000 Ukrainians who are not in work and live in “State-provided serviced accommodation” such as hotels and B&Bs where meals and other services are provided, are likely to be affected. In six weeks’ time they will see benefits reduced from €232 per week to under €38.80 per week.
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