Government considered 'creation of refugee camps' to manage surge in number of migrants

Asylum seekers' tents by the canal at Mount Street Bridge, near the International Protection Office in Dublin last month. Picture: Paul Sherwood

The department in charge of accommodating asylum seekers was in negotiations over “the creation of a refugee camp” to manage a surge in migration but said the “political optics” of it would be poor.

In discussions over its budget, the Department of Children and Equality said every negotiation with property owners about accommodation was leading to “higher cost and lower quality".

In briefing documents, it said it had discussed the development of a refugee camp with the UN International Organization for Migration in case it ran out of options.

However, officials warned this would be politically sensitive and “the cost very high”.

In a plea for significant extra funding, officials said there was no sign the number of migrants arriving to Ireland was likely to fall over the next three to five years.

A presentation prepared for the Department of Public Expenditure said a so-called “day rate” system of paying for each bed night in accommodation led to poor value.

It also said it was far too reliant on private providers, with 90% of asylum applicants housed in that sector and a significant risk of “some withdrawing from the market". 

The warnings were contained in materials sent to the Department of Public Expenditure in advance of last year’s budget.

The Department of Children and Equality took almost eight months to release the documents and only did so after an appeal to the information commissioner under freedom of information laws.

The key presentation provided warned the cost of housing international protection applicants was likely to rise above €1bn by 2029.

However, that figure was already exceeded this year as the department’s budget proved insufficient.

The presentation said it was running out of options in finding accommodation in the private sector and “the flow of proposals” from providers was low.

It said: “Hoteliers, property owners and developers are either at the full extent of their capacity and/or are unwilling to enter this politically sensitive space.” 

The briefing said larger scale “tented camps” were a possibility but were expensive, low-quality, vulnerable to weather, unsustainable and “politically unpopular”.

It said the best choice was to develop State-owned land, which was more cost effective long-term and provided a higher standard of accommodation.

The presentation added: “[It gives] the State stability and [these centres] aren’t subject to changes in attitudes of private providers.” 

In other documents, the Department of Children and Equality said there was the possibility of having to pay damages to refugees that were never offered accommodation.

It also said there were likely to be increased legal costs around a series of High Court cases over State obligations to house migrants.

Asked about the records, a spokesman said: “With the significant increase in numbers of applications for international protection in recent years, alongside the arrival of over 109,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine since 2022, accommodation shortages for people seeking international protection have been significant.” 

He said an allocation of €1.2bn had been made in Budget 2025, which would be used to bring into use suitable facilities to provide shelter and safety for asylum applicants.