Asylum numbers reached ‘critical levels’ in 2000
With asylum numbers at the time reaching 1,000 a month from a base of close to zero a year before, officials from the directorate for asylum support services - now the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) - travelled to the Netherlands to assess tented pavilions in use there.
“Quite clearly the situation had reached a critical stage. Accommodation facilities in the Dublin area had been exhausted and the number of persons travelling to the State to claim asylum had reached a level which was unthinkable six months previously.
“The situation was such that the option of using tents was urgently considered in association with the Defence Forces,” Mr McDowell said.
However, with the UNHCR expressing grave concern that such a measure would be considered to then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue, the possibility of using tents was subsequently ruled out on fire safety grounds.
Justifying the subsequent purchase of nine properties to house asylum seekers, Mr McDowell said only four in Cork, Kilkenny, Dublin and Carlow had proven unusable because of local protests and legal action taken by residents.
A further property - the Devereux Hotel in Rosslare - was purchased to operate as a reception centre but was then sold following ongoing protests and a decrease in asylum numbers at the port.
A further 69 properties brought into use by the Government but not actually purchased attracted little or no significant protest and were successfully utilised.
However, Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe criticised the lack of accountability of RIA spending which totals e18 million a year and suggested that criminal and even paramilitary figures had benefited from RIA spending on asylum seeker accommodation.
“It is ironic but it has been suggested to me that significant criminal and paramilitary figures have, in a number of instances, been the ultimate beneficiaries of the minister’s largesse through this agency,” he said, calling for an investigation into the matter.
Mr O’Keeffe also called for an examination of the contracts entered into, which due to a lack of a tendering process, had led to huge waste through “sweetheart deals”.
