‘It’s reckless not to use the beds to keep people off streets’
ASYLUM seekers are being left to walk the freezing-cold streets without a bed while rough sleeper beds lie empty – which has been branded ‘reckless’.
The Department of Integration has been unable to provide accommodation for 569 asylum seekers as it struggles to source new units.
Asylum seekers are not eligible to access emergency accommodation provided by the State’s homelessness services. A spokeswoman for the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) told the Irish Daily Mail they ‘do not have a remit for the accommodation of applicants seeking international protection’.
Asylum seekers are the responsibility of the Department of Integration, which has been sourcing accommodation throughout the country, predominately in refurbished buildings or former hotels and nursing homes.
However, the department is currently struggling to source new accommodation, and the efforts have been hampered by protests outside accommodation earmarked for asylum seekers, as well as arson attacks.
Last month the Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahil, in the Galway West constituency, was set alight after male asylum seekers were planned to move into it. Two Fianna Fáil councillors, Séamus Walsh and Noel Thomas, are facing an internal disciplinary process and potential expulsion from the party for apparently blaming the Government’s migration policy for the arson attack. Louisa Santoro, CEO of homelessness charity Mendicity, told the Mail it is ‘reckless’ not to maximise bed capacity that homelessness services have, particularly during a period of sub-zero temperatures, with mercury set to plunge to -4C by tomorrow night. ‘I would like to think it foolhardy that those beds would not be used to keep someone off the street because they presented to the wrong Government department,’ she said.
Last summer, asylum seekers without accommodation were sleeping in tents near the immigration office on Mount Street in Dublin’s south inner city.
However, since a far-right mob set fire to some asylum seeker tents, they have no longer congregated together in the city centre in large numbers.
Ms Santoro said they are opting to ‘stay all over the place’ but predominately outdoors.
‘You wouldn’t know someone was homeless unless you saw them lying on the street,’ she said. ‘Some are taking long bus journeys to pass the time, others are going to McDonald’s or places like that.
‘Sometimes when they come into our service they rest their head for a short time.’
Earlier this week a homeless man was found dead on Dublin’s St Andrew’s Street. The DRHE spokeswoman said they have approximately 4,274 beds in emergency accommodation for single people across the four Dublin local authorities.