Asylum seekers describe 'prison-like' conditions in emergency accommodations

Local residents Joan Casey and Len Canton out to welcome asylum seekers who are to be housed in the Lismore House Hotel, Lismore, Co Waterford. Picture Dan Linehan

Having no floor space for children to crawl or learn to walk, and feeling like they’re living in a “prison” are some of the stark conditions described by asylum seekers in a new study.

Migrant rights organisation Doras launched the research, examining and comparing living conditions in permanent International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) and emergency accommodation.

It said emergency accommodation, which is now home to the majority of applicants, is weakly regulated and lacks independent oversight.

“Emergency accommodation was meant to be temporary, used only when there was a surge in applicants. Instead, it has become the status quo,” Doras chief executive John Lannon said.

“The hospitality sector has been managing accommodation and many aspects of life for people who have gone through traumatic experiences unimaginable to most of us.

"They are not hotel guests — these are children, men and women who need trauma-informed, trained staff to support their integration needs. The system is simply not fit for purpose.

The study was based on a national survey, peer-led focus groups and stakeholder interviews, with respondents to the survey coming from 30 countries. The majority had been in Ireland for between one and three years, with one in 10 for more than three years.

Doras said most of the respondents shared bedrooms and bathroom facilities, which underscored the “prolonged nature” of such living arrangements.

Isolated and lonely

Some of the personal experiences detailed in the report also included feeling very isolated from the local culture, and children feel lonely as they can't have visitors.

Doras made over a dozen recommendations in its report, with a focus on phasing out the use of emergency accommodation except as a measure of last resort.

“Emergency accommodation should be genuinely short-term and tightly time limited,” it said. “Its routine or prolonged use is incompatible with human rights obligations.” 

John Lannon, Doras chief executive: 'Emergency accommodation was meant to be temporary, used only when there was a surge in applicants. Instead, it has become the status quo.'

It also said all accommodation used for asylum seekers must be brought under a single, mandatory inspection and enforcement regime, as the exclusion of emergency accommodation has produced a “two-tier system of oversight”.

Its last recommendation also called on the Government to avoid the use of “careless or inflammatory framing of immigration” as it risks escalating tensions.

“In light of demonstrations, riots, arson attacks and intimidation directed at international protection applicants in certain existing and proposed Ipas centres, it is essential that all members of Government exercise leadership and restraint in public discourse,” the report said.

Separately, a new report from researchers at the University of Limerick on the views of marginalised members of Irish society regarding policing and community safety has found issues including racism, stigmatisation and misinformation on social media, while community safety is not solely the responsibility of gardaí. 

On social media, in particular, participants in the study said it was being used in negative ways about their communities.

“A massive problem is the misinformation,” one said. “Social media is obviously being used as a tool to generate fear.”