State-owned asylum seeker housing to be signed off ‘in weeks’

NEW State-owned asylum seeker accommodation centres are to be signed off in a matter of weeks as Tánaiste Micheál Martin says the Government needs to ‘very strongly’ rebut misinformation about earmarked centres.

Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman is preparing a revised White Paper on ending direct provision, which is understood to propose the State’s acquisition of several large accommodation centres to house asylum seekers.

The State is accommodating nearly 27,000 people seeking international protection; however, 612 asylum seekers currently have no accommodation, with many sleeping rough.

The Tánaiste said the Government is expecting to see proposals from Mr O’Gorman ‘in respect of new centres that would be State-developed’ in the coming weeks.

He said the revised White Paper involves acquiring ‘additional accommodation, State-owned, or State-developed, to add to the existing accommodation’.

The opening date of the new centres will depend on whether they are bought or built but the State will need both state-owned and privately owned refugee accommodation into the future.

‘People will be told but the locations as of now haven’t been identified. This has to be brought to Cabinet and brought to the subcommittee on migration more generally,’ Mr Martin said.

Asked what the Government is doing about misinformation spreading online about buildings suspected to be earmarked for international protection applicants, he said: ‘We’re going to try and counteract that very strongly’, adding that the media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, will have its own powers to deal with misinformation, while the Electoral Commission will be able to deal with during elections.

He said: ‘The media commission needs to engage with the platforms in terms of taking down misleading and inaccurate information as quickly as possible.’

He said there was already engagement over misinformation posts during the Dublin riots, and there was a ‘good response from quite a number of platforms to the media commission in respect of that’. He went on: ‘It will fall to the media commission to engage with the social media platforms, and also to bring recommendations to Government in respect of additional legislative responses.’

The Tánaiste rejected claims by Independent TD Michael McNamara that asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees were leaving beds in accommodation centres unoccupied.

‘There is no spare capacity in the existing accommodation capacity for international asylum seekers, and any spare capacity that arises will be used for people who are coming in who can’t get accommodation,’ he said.

The Tánaiste told RTÉ radio yesterday that Ireland has ‘never been in a situation like this before’. He said: ‘This is the first major war on the continent of Europe [in decades], with millions of people displaced as a consequence, and that has created its own unprecedented pressures on Ireland.’

He said 220 community projects have been completed so far under the €50million Community Recognition Fund for areas that have accommodated large numbers of refugees.

‘The pressures are significant but it’s not a one-sided story. Ireland has welcomed over 100,000 Ukrainians. Legitimately people are entitled to protest and raise concerns, and we’re going to do everything we can to respond to them.’