Asylum seeker camp cleared from Dublin canal

A makeshift migrant encampment has been cleared from Dublin’s Grand Canal following a multi-agency operation.

More than 100 tents had been erected along the waterway as the Irish Government continues to fail to provide accommodation to all male asylum seekers.

The operation began at approximately 6.30am and by shortly after 8am almost all the tents had been removed using a truck with a crane arm.

The asylum seekers who had been living in the makeshift encampment were told it was an offence to stay on the canal and that they would be taken by bus to official accommodation.

Many of the men lined up for the buses while their tents were marked before being disposed of for “health and safety reasons”.

Volunteers and a Safetynet mobile health unit also assisted the operation.

Fences have now been erected around the stretch of the Grand Canal where the tents had been pitched to prevent another encampment.

The Grand Canal encampment emerged shortly after more than 200 asylum seekers were cleared from a similar makeshift camp at the nearby International Protection Office in Mount Street last week.

The Irish Government said Thursday morning’s operation involved the Irish police service, Dublin City Council, the national health service, the Departments of Integration and Justice as well as a waterway authority.

A statement from the Government said: “The purpose of the operation is to ensure the safe movement of people seeking international protection from the tents on the Grand Canal to International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS)-designated accommodation.

Asylum claimants remove their belongings during the operation (Brian Lawless/PA)

“The IPAS-designated accommodation has toilets and showers; health services; indoor areas where food is provided; facilities to charge phones and personal devices; access to transport to and from Dublin City Centre; and 24-hour onsite security.”

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Irish premier Simon Harris said the similar operation last week had a “very positive impact” and averted a “public health near-emergency”.

He said: “I continue to believe that it was the right action to take. I became Taoiseach four weeks ago, I took charge of this situation.

“There had been, in my view, a tacit acceptance by many State agencies that the situation on Mount Street could just continue and was just the new norm. That was not right.”

He added: “We will deal with the Grand Canal. Action will be taken.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik, who is a TD for the area, said she hopes the alternative accommodation is “appropriate and secure”.

“I have been calling on the Taoiseach to address this situation. It’s clearly inhumane and unsustainable to see individuals with no option but to sleep in tents with no sanitation facilities, no security,” she said.

“I am glad to see alternative accommodation has been made and we will be pressing the Government to ensure that it is safe and secure accommodation.

“I want to commend all the local residents and volunteers who gave such support to the individuals here. It was a very calm presence along the canal.

“It couldn’t have been allowed to continue because it was inhumane to the individuals.”