A Cabinet committee has agreed to fast-track the provision of over 5,000 emergency places to respond to the accommodation crisis caused by a 600 per cent increase in the number of people applying for international protection in Ireland.
It has also asked HSE contact tracing teams to vet families who have pledged accommodation, a process which has been beset by delays and complicated bureaucracy.
The number of people who have applied for asylum in Ireland in the first five months of 2022 is close to 5,000, which is almost twice the total of 2,649 for the entirety of 2021.
This cohort of people is separate from the estimated 24,000 refugees who have been offered accommodation by the State or by private individuals. The dramatic rise in non-Ukrainian asylum seekers has been partly attributed to a new tough policy by the UK government to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda.
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Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman told colleagues at the Cabinet subcommittee on Ukraine on Monday that there were 35,000 people (including those from Ukraine) in emergency or direct accommodation in Ireland, compared to only 6,500 people last year.
The Cabinet approved a plan by the Office of Public Works to develop what’s called a “modular accommodation proposal” that will provide 500 units, and potentially accommodate 2,000 people.
The Department of Housing is also expediting a plan to refurbish 3,100 units as urgently as possible.
To address long delays in the process of vetting householders who have pledged accommodation to Ukrainian refugees, HSE contact tracing teams will also be drafted in to assist with the vetting process.
A Government source said that “even with the measures being advanced, the numbers coming in will still leave us with a significant gap to close.
“All relevant Government Departments will continue their work but the coming months will be exceptionally challenging.”
The sheer volume of people arriving into Ireland seeking protection over the first five months has put authorities here under considerable strain to find adequate accommodation. It emerged over the weekend that a number of asylum seekers slept on temporary beds in conference rooms of Red Cow Moran Hotel because there were no available rooms.
Senior sources in Government said that the announcement of the British government that it will transfer asylum seekers to processing centres in Rwanda was undoubtedly one of a “combination of factors” that has driven the increase. The other major factor has been the opening of international travel post-Covid which has led to a glut of applications seeking protection across the European Union.
Speaking on Monday ahead of the Cabinet subcommittee meeting, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan acknowledged that Ireland’s more open policy compared to Britain’s Rwanda policy presented more difficulties and challenges.
“There is a real challenge. It is very, very difficult. But we will have to manage. We committed at the very start of this war that the right thing to do – and the Irish people agree with this – is to keep our door open, unlike our neighbours who haven’t taken the same approach.
“And unlike our neighbours, we don’t agree with the sort of approach where you might send a refugee back to another country as a solution to what is a real challenging problem.”
As of June 5th there were 11,873 people in international protection accommodation. This compares to 7,000 at the end of 2021 and also 7,000 at the end of 2020. The figures are the highest for over 15 years.
Mr Ryan said there was “a lot of frustration” among Government Ministers about bureaucratic hurdles that have led to delays in providing refugees and asylum seekers with adequate accommodation.
“Even with even if all those offers [of accommodation] came to fruition, it would still leave us with a really challenging situation on the numbers. That is the reality. We have to be honest about it,” he said.
