'A new low': Migrants rights groups raise concern as refugees facing homelessness
Citywest is to close to new arrivals in the coming days due to capacity issues, Minister Roderic O'Gorman has said. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
The Government has come under fire from migrant rights organisations which have described the possibility of newly arriving asylum seekers having to sleep on the streets as “a new low” for Ireland.
Urgent action was needed from the Government, not just the Department of Children, John Lannon, CEO of Doras, told . There should be a coordinated Government approach.
On Thursday, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O'Gorman said it is likely that the State will not be able to provide accommodation to newly arriving international protection applicants in the coming days.
He said the Citywest transit hub is likely to close to new arrivals due to capacity issues.
It will be the third time that international protection applicants arriving into Ireland will be left without accommodation, with the same situation having happened in September and October last year.
Before Christmas, Mr O'Gorman met with Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko to warn of impending shortages in accommodation for new arrivals.
Mr Lannon said he had a lot of sympathy for the Government and that the Department of Children had done a tremendous amount of work, but they had been in “crisis response mode” since last February.
“This is a worrying new low for the international protection system in Ireland. We already have a situation where people are sleeping in tents in freezing conditions, despite promises this practice would end," he said.
Ireland had a legal and moral obligation to people arriving in Ireland seeking asylum, fleeing war and persecution, Mr Lannon added.
“The EU Reception Conditions Directive compels Ireland to ensure that a basic standard of housing, food, clothing and health care is provided to people seeking international protection. We’re talking about people who have faced great hardships to flee war, oppression and human rights abuses.
"Ireland has very real challenges but as a country, we have access to resources and the solutions are there if the will is there. That’s why we continue our calls for greater leadership and a better-resourced and more coordinated effort that takes a long-term approach beyond the constant focus on crisis management, which is incredibly costly and causing great harm."
Every option in terms of accommodation needed to be explored, he urged, insisting that the department has to cater for all arrivals.
“We are especially concerned about those who are more vulnerable when they arrive seeking protection. Single men are likely to be worst affected by the current situation but their need and right to protection is no less than others. We cannot sit by and allow these people to end up on the streets. It’s simply not acceptable to refer them to places like the Capuchin centre, which is already doing so much. Nor can we rely on damp, cold and crowded tents such as those in Knockalisheen, which are no place for human beings in the height of winter.”
Fianna Fáil TD for Clare, Cathal Crowe, said the prudent thing would be to implement capacity mapping to determine where exactly there was accommodation, healthcare, and school places available.
The numbers arriving could be managed better if it was known where there was available capacity.
“We need boots on the ground to determine the parts of the country where there is capacity," Mr Crowe said.
Mr Lannon also called on the Government to speed up modular housing, to use vacant State lands to build new accommodation, and to refurbish old barracks and buildings such as convents for use.
A new permanent reception centre should be built in the long term, but in the short term every available option should be followed up for accommodation to be brought into use.
