Number of asylum-seekers without accommodation breaches 500

The International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) announced it could no longer accommodate all IPAs last month 'due to a severe shortage'. File picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

The number of international protection applicants (IPAs) without State-provided accommodation has breached 500 in just over one month, according to latest figures from the Department of Integration.

Since December 4, 659 new arrivals have not been accommodated at one stage, with 80 of these being subsequently offered accommodation after being triaged for vulnerabilities. Another 67 have since been offered accommodation.

The number of those without accommodation has risen by 136 to 512 in just seven days amid a cold weather advisory from Met Éireann which remains in place until Friday.

Irish Refugee Council chief executive Nick Henderson said he was “gravely concerned” by the rising figures, adding it took more than three months to breach 500 when accommodation ran out early last year.

“People are not safe and very cold weather is forecast. There is no adequate plan in place to meet this crisis. It is a breach of our obligations under Irish and EU law which cannot be wished away,” he said.

Mr Henderson said the Irish Refugee Council had engaged with more than 70 people without accommodation since the International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) announced it could no longer accommodate all IPAs last month “due to a severe shortage”.

Some are sleeping rough and moving around the city, people are desperate and cold and sometimes face hostility. One person reported having his tent stolen, one assaulted.

“Some people report physical and mental health problems exacerbated by sleeping rough,” he said.

Some 579 IPAs have received a weekly contingency payment of €113.80, a temporary increase of €75 from the current rate of €38.80 for those who have not been offered accommodation.

The payment has previously been described as “entirely inadequate” by human rights groups.

The Irish Refugee Council previously called for provision of at least a full social welfare allowance during the period of homelessness.

It also urged the department to consider facilitating direct payments to accommodation providers in the “exceptional circumstances” where IPAs can source a bed on a one-night-only basis, noting there are "significant barriers" in sourcing such accommodation.