Migrants found in shipping container in Rosslare have gone missing from state services

Rosslare Europort. Photograph: Patrick Browne

Several migrants who were found struggling to breathe in a refrigerated container in Rosslare port have gone missing from State services, with concerns now being raised for their safety.

It is understood that up to eight of the 14 people found in the shipping container on Monday morning have left their accommodation centre in Dublin and their whereabouts are unknown.

Garda sources said an investigation has not been launched, as it is not illegal for them to leave their State-provided accommodation.

However, JP O’Sullivan, a manager with the anti-trafficking and child protection advocacy group Mecpaths, said: “It is very concerning to hear that they have gone missing — there would be concerns about potential exploitation.

“They have already demonstrated their vulnerability, which has been identified so publicly.

“Anywhere there is a vulnerability, potential exploitation can take place.”

Chief executive of the Irish Immigrant Council Brian Killoran said the entire incident highlights that “people will take extraordinarily difficult decisions and extraordinarily difficult journeys to try to enter somewhere”.

Sources said it is not unusual for people to go missing from State accommodation “very soon after arriving”.

Their disappearance from the Dublin accommodation is similar to an incident in 2019 when 16 stowaways were found in the back of a truck travelling from Cherbourg to Rosslare.

Fifteen sought international protection and were offered accommodation in a Dublin direct provision centre but a number of them left the centre within a short period.

In the latest case, the migrants were found in Rosslare port on Monday after a phone call was picked up by UK emergency services from inside the refrigerated container.

The 14 people feared they were running out of oxygen, but managed to cut an air hole in the side of the container to ensure their survival. The group included 10 Kurdish people from Iran and Iraq, one person from Turkey, and three from Vietnam.

Tusla was notified about two children, aged four and six, who were also in the group.

The Department of Justice said it does not comment on individual cases, but added: “Where State accommodation is provided in such circumstances, no person is required to remain in that accommodation.”

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said no Ukrainians will be sent home from Ireland “until it is safe”.

“There are some parts of the country where the war is raging every day,” he said.

“There are other parts of the country where they’re subject to intermittent rocket attacks. I don’t think there is any part of Ukraine that is safe enough to send people back. It’s a different thing if they do choose to return... that’s a very different thing to sending somebody back to Ukraine.”