Tented villages will be needed 'for some time' – Micheál Martin

A July 2022 picture of the interior of a military tent set up in Gormanston military camp in Co Meath to shelter Ukrainian refugees. File picture: Department of the Taoiseach /PA

Temporary accommodation including tented villages will be required to provide emergency capacity to shelter refugees for some time, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.

Mr Martin said there will be a “continuing flow” of people to Ireland as refugees flee war and the impacts of climate change.

It comes as the Irish Examiner learned that ministers were briefed on Thursday that there is a possibility of an increased number of refugees coming to Ireland over the summer months.

“I think we will always need tented capacity to deal with immediate challenges and it can vary at different times of the year in response to a different crisis,” Mr Martin said.

“You could have a very significant flow of migrants in any one week which would be against the normal average so therefore you will need emergency capacity such as tented villages and so on and tented accommodation to deal with such immediate pressures that can come from on a week to week basis.

“The objective would be then to move them on relatively quickly to more acceptable accommodation.”

Around 176 refugees are to be moved into tented accommodation at the former Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum, Dublin in the coming weeks.

A July 2022 picture of military tents set up in Gormanston military camp in Co Meath to shelter hundreds of Ukrainian refugees. File picture: Department of the Taoiseach /PA

Mr Martin said the State needed to prioritise refugees that are arriving into Ireland on a daily basis when asked why Ireland couldn’t accept a further 350 international protection (IP) applicants and instead chose to give the EU €1.5m.

The Fianna Fáil leader who was speaking at the official opening of Avondale House in Co Wicklow, said both rapid-build housing and the refurbishment of a “significant” number of buildings will create 6,000 beds by the end of the year.

He said rapid-build housing is going to emerge as a significant contributor to accommodation, which is separate from modular housing.

He said that all of those measures will give the State capacity to meet further challenges down the line in what he described as a “unprecedented situation.”

He also said work needs to happen at an EU and global level to resolve some of the issues in countries that are causing mass migration such as aiming to help reduce conflict and resource areas that are suffering through United Nations bodies.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said that 5,000 beds will also be made available over the summer months as students leave their accommodation until the next academic term in September. He said it is the bed capacity will need to return to colleges but the beds will be in use during the “down-time” period.

The Tánaiste also said that “it’s about solidarity” and not fines in the EU’s latest proposal which will see a charge of €20,000 per head for member countries that refuse to host refugees.

Mr Martin said this was an issue prior to the war in Ukraine and the exponential rise in migration, because many countries in Europe were experiencing very significant migratory flows and they felt it was not “adequate burden-sharing” between all EU members.

“We’ve always been supportive of a broader EU approach where there is genuine burden sharing,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Martin said security needs to be improved after a teenager gained access to Leinster House last weekend.

“Clearly security does need to be improved,” Mr Martin said. “My understanding is it’s a young teenager so I’d like to take that into consideration as well in terms of any commentary and I think it’s a situation that ended in a sensitive and effective way by those present in Leinster House and I do commend them for the manner in which they resolved the issue.

“It does raise wider security issues for Leinster House itself which I think will be attended to.”