O'Gorman admits refugees could end up sleeping on the streets

Roderic O'Gorman, Minister for Integration, says refugees could end up on the streets as Citywest reaches capacity. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

The Government is scrambling to secure accommodation for incoming refugees as the Citywest campus is now full.

Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has admitted that some international protection applicants could end up sleeping on the streets as the processing centre is at capacity.

The minister last night confirmed a significant increase in the number of people seeking accommodation and said that in the interests of the welfare of those presently at Citywest, a decision had been taken to pause arrivals to the transit hub.

"What we are making clear is we're not in a position to guarantee everyone an offer of accommodation," he said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme.

"So what we will do is we will prioritise vulnerable people, we will prioritise women and children in terms of the provision of accommodation."

When asked whether there was a danger that people would have to sleep on the streets, Mr O'Gorman said: "I can't rule that out.

"That's why we're speaking very clearly today and engaging with the Ukrainian embassy in terms of letting people know that there is a major constraint on capacity, particularly next week.

"That's why we're letting people know that if they have an option — if they're in another EU member state — to either stay there or look to other EU member states, that we can't guarantee State-provided accommodation into next week."

He said that from Monday there will be an overnight facility in Dublin Airport where refugees would stay if arriving into Ireland on a late flight before being transferred to Citywest the next day.

The Government warned in July that it was facing a "severe shortage" of accommodation for arriving Ukrainians, which resulted in asylum seekers having to stay in a Dublin Airport terminal overnight.

Ukrainian refugees were temporarily living in tents at the Gormanston military camp in Co Meath as other accommodation was sourced.

"Gormanston doesn't remain open anymore," Mr O'Gorman said on Friday. 

"There are currently 300 people in tented accommodation across the country of the 50,000 that we're accommodating.

"So there is a small number of people in tented accommodation, but it is a small proportion — about half a percent — of the overall number."

Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, has called on all government departments to fulfill their responsibilities for refugees and international protection applicants.

It had been “predictable” that accommodation options would run out and that the situation at City West would occur.

“Something had to give," he told  Morning Ireland.

Lucky Khambule of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) said what was happening was simply not good enough. 

“It’s shocking that people won’t have a place to stay,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

“We are very concerned with the way that the Government is reacting in terms of this influx of new people that are coming. We would think they would have found a solution with regard to helping people that are new in the country.” 

While Mr Khambule sympathised with the Government’s predicament, he said that people should not be sleeping at an airport.

The Department of Integration is accommodating more than 58,000 people (42,000 Ukrainian, 16,000 International Protection). This figure compares with 7,250 at this time last year.