ANGER AS REFUGEES FORCED BACK ON STREETS
ASYLUM seekers who were given accommodation after their tents collapsed in heavy snow last week have been forced to leave in a move described as ‘appalling’.
Friday morning’s blizzard came as an unwelcomed surprise to over one hundred rough sleepers outside Dublin’s International Protection Office (IPO), now known as ‘tent-city’. Among those affected included two 17-year-olds.
As conditions worsened, they abandoned their tents and were later offered emergency accommodation in several locations in the capital.
However, beds were not guaranteed and several of the rough sleepers had to resort to sleeping on the floor at Castlemoate House beside Dublin Airport.
Many are now back on the streets with no assurance of when they’ll be provided with permanent shelter.
‘There is capacity within the system’
The Department of Integration said the measure was only temporary due to the extreme weather.
‘The arrangements are emergency in nature and will end today,’ a spokesman said on Sunday.
The Department added all International Protection Accommodation Services beds were being used and it was working intensively to source more accommodation.
Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, has described the treatment on those affected as ‘frankly appalling’.
‘We are really concerned that people who were taken off the streets on Friday evening have been told accommodation is no longer available to them,’ he told Newstalk. ‘That’s appalling, and we believe the fact that people were accommodated shows there is capacity within the system while the Government states there is none.’
Mr Henderson claims the situation outside the IPO at the moment is ‘horrendous’.
In an email to Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s office on Sunday night, Mr Henderson wrote: ‘To put people on to the street, after accommodating them, seems disingenuous.’
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said the Minister must account ‘for the inhumane treatment’ of migrants.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said yesterday he only learned about the two minors living in tents from media reports.
Asked how he could justify releasing the aslyum seekers back on the streets, he replied: ‘I’m going to be meeting Mr O’Gorman about this and I’ll be talking to him about that.’