TDs and residents gather outside Department of Integration to protest at ‘shocking’ conditions for asylum seekers

Opposition TDs and local residents around Mount Street today delivered a letter to the Department of Integration demanding answers on the crisis of asylum accommodation.

Campaigners and volunteers who have been assisting asylum seekers who have been sleeping rough in the area said the conditions had worsened and the encampment had only grown in recent weeks.

Men who had been camping outside the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street were taken to a new site at Crooksling last month, though a number returned to the city soon after.

In total, there are currently 1,700 international protection applicants awaiting an offer of accommodation across the country.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik and People Before Profit TD and MEP candidate Bríd Smith today joined campaigners and a number of asylum seekers at the Department of Integration in Dublin.

Together they delivered the letter demanding answers from Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman on the “unsustainable” conditions on Mount Street.

“The situation at IPO is now completely unsustainable – for volunteers, homeless services, local residents, and of course the asylum seekers themselves. The volunteers who for four months have organised food, bedding and clothing have reached breaking point,” the letter read.

Social Rights Ireland campaigners, who co-ordinated the action, said it was time to “move away from PR-driven quick-fix solutions and tackle this issue head-on”.

The letter addressed two questions to Mr O’Gorman, asking him when further capacity will become available and what his plan is for dealing with the problem of refugee homelessness until the additional beds become available.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik told protesters that the volunteers and local politicians have been “absolutely distressed” by the conditions on Mount Street and the lack of available alternative accommodation.

“It is simply not adequate,” she said. “It’s not good enough that volunteers are doing this and it’s become hugely problematic for so many people in the local area, local traders that I’ve spoken with who have watched the growth of what is effectively an encampment of deeply, deeply unsanitary conditions that nobody in Ireland should be forced to sleep in in 2024.”

Ms Bacik said it was time for Mr O’Gorman to “step up” and resolve the issue as local politicians and residents grow increasingly concerned for the health and safety of the men sleeping rough in the area.

“On a humanitarian basis, we want to see decent accommodation and shelter provided to those who come here seeking refugee in the international protection system.”

To applause, People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said “whether they are Irish or migrant, everyone deserves a place to live, they deserve a roof over their head, they deserve safety”.

She said the conditions on Mount Street were a “shocking way to treat human beings” and a solution must be sought through the provision of alternative accommodation.

“There is absolutely no need for anyone to be sleeping in tents on the streets or in parks and in these conditions.”

One Palestinian man, who is seeking refuge in Ireland, said the country and Irish people had respect for the human rights of those seeking international protection but that he had faced “many problems” here, including racism around the site in Crooksling.

“We came back here to tents and up until this moment, we have no solution,” he said, adding that the accommodation of people in tents cannot be a long-term solution and it was “against international human rights”.

The Department of Integration has been contacted for comment.

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