TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has today said that he would tell people thinking of coming to Ireland from a safe country where they have accommodation, “we cannot guarantee you accommodation”.
“I just have to be honest about that,” the Taoiseach told media today in Boston, during his visit to the US for St Patrick’s day weekend.
Yesterday the Taoiseach made a speech about St Patrick, describing him as a “single, male, undocumented, migrant”. He said that there are still many “hard working” undocumented Irish people in the US, taking the opportunity to raise their plight.
According to figures published by the Department of Integration, there are 1,260 people who have applied for international protection in Ireland who are still waiting for an offer of accommodation.
Many of them are living in tents outside the International Protection Office in the Mount Street area of Dublin.
Varadkar told The Journal that he has not had an “updated briefing” on that situation from Roderic O’Gorman’s Department, but that he has passed by the area many times, and has seen it “with my own eyes”.
He said that the Government is doing all it can to source additional accommodation, while prioritising women, children, families, and vulnerable men.
Varadkar said that he has “no difficulty” to meet the homeless asylum seekers living in the area when he returns to Ireland, but he doesn’t think a visit from him will “change the situation”.
He said that there has been a very big increase in people entering Ireland “irregularly”, adding: “It’s more than quadrupled since 2019″.
“That’s crazy, and a very challenging situation,” the Taoiseach said.
“If you are passing through a safe country, whether it is Britain or France, we cannot guarantee you accommodation in Ireland anymore, and I just have to be honest about that ,” the Taoiseach additionally said.
The conditions in the makeshift campsite in the Mount Street area have seriously deteriorated in the last two weeks, with a large build up of rubbish causing a smell on the street.
Asylum seekers have no access to toilet facilities other than those in drop-in centres contracted by the Department, which close at night, and are open at different times during the day. The two main ones are over 2km away.
There have also been reports of a scabies outbreak, and circulating respiratory illness amongst the community there.
The Department of Integration today told The Journal that despite “exhaustive efforts” from the Department of Integration, the supply of available accommodation for international protection applicants has “very seriously diminished”.
The spokesperson said that what accommodation can be opened now faces “significant local opposition”, and is at this point, being primarily used for families “in order to avoid women and children becoming homeless”.
“Since January, more than 2,400 new beds have been brought into use for those seeking accommodation,” they added.
The Department has not clarified if any efforts are ongoing to provide temporary toilet facilities available nearby the tents on Mount Street.
There were 13,000 applications for asylum in Ireland in 2022, a 415% increase in the number of asylum applications compared with 2021, and a 186% increase on 2019.
- With reporting from The Journal’s Political Editor Christina Finn, who is currently in the US.
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