Harris: I will veto proposal to buy student beds for refugees

MINISTER Simon Harris has said he would stop plans to take 400 student beds in Cork for refugees if they come to the Cabinet table, adding that the ongoing crisis in housing migrants is causing ‘angst’ and threatening social cohesion.

It was reported this week that the Department of Integration is considering buying a facility in Cork that houses students to accommodate 400 international protection applicants.

But the Higher Education Minister said he will veto any proposal for the Government to acquire 400 student accommodation beds in Cork to house asylum seekers unless there’s a plan to rehouse the students.

Mr Harris said that he didn’t believe this proposal would go ahead, displacing hundreds of students currently living there.

He said he understood that the department discussed potentially acquiring the property, but this would require a Cabinet decision.

‘As a member of Cabinet, I wouldn’t be in a position to agree to any such proposal unless there were clear answers as to what was going to happen in relation to the students,’ he said. ‘There’s been absolutely no Government decision in relation to this. There has also been no Cabinet discussion in relation to this. And it would require a Cabinet decision so I’m quite sceptical about it.’

Mr Harris said that officials are ‘scouring the country’ to find places to house new arrivals as 612 asylum seekers are currently left homeless by the State.

‘This really does highlight the broader issue,’ he said. ‘I mean, it highlights the need for the Government to move to a long-term migration policy. We have to get to a point where we are not in this emergency response phase, where every day it’s: what can we find in this town or what can we find in that village. That is causing angst, it is causing worry and it also challenges social cohesion.

‘That’s why I fully support [Integration] Minister [Roderic] O’Gorman in his intention to bring forward a range of proposals about how you move to a sustainable, long-term accommodation model.’

He acknowledged the accommodation issue for asylum seekers is ‘very very serious’, adding: ‘The Government is working not just on a daily basis, but on an hourly basis, to try and come up with solutions, made all the harder by some of the arson attacks.’

Mr Harris said the third-level sector has been ‘very willing’ to house refugees by providing student beds during the summer.

‘We need to increase student accommodation in Ireland and not do anything to reduce or deplete the amount, and I think that’s just logical,’ he said.

After high-profile incidents in Cork and Sligo where student beds were contracted to house asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees, the Department of Higher Education negotiated a protocol in 2023 around the use of this accommodation.

Under the pact, student accommodation left vacant for a year can be contracted by the Department of Integration.