Refugees told sleeping rough is an offence
ter the operation, tents had already appeared at Ringend and East Wall a short distance away from where people were told to leave.
In response to queries from Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty about what would happen if further tents were set up, Mr Martin said “it is not sustainable for tents to be on the canal or anywhere in the public realm”.
Plan
He continued: “It is not good for migrants and asylum seekers or for residents of the general area. It is not acceptable and there is a plan to deal resolutely with tents wherever they arise.
“I also make the point that there is a wider plan, first, in dealing with the increase in people seeking asylum here. There has undoubtedly been a substantial increase in line with the rest of Europe and in line with worsening conditions as a result of war and famine overseas.”
Meanwhile, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Labour’s Dublin MEP hopeful, blasted the erection of barricades.
He told The Star: “They [the Government] clearly have no concept of what Dublin means. If this is what he [the Taoiseach] wants the capital to look like, unfortunately they are completely out of touch.
“It is ridiculous. Is this the solution? Just go in and remove the tents and put up a barricade?
“Is the whole city going to be full of barricades? This is being lauded as a successful intervention. Are they out of their minds?”
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon also criticised the barriers. He described them as “hideous” and said “nobody puts up railings and barriers for any good reasons”.
ASYLUM seekers who camped out at Mount Street and the Grand Canal were given letters reminding them that sleeping rough is a criminal offence, Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has revealed.
The minister said this reminder was only made after rough sleepers were offered alternative accommodation in Crooksling and Dundrum, and before gardaí took a “humane approach”.
Speaking at the Green Party’s Local Election Manifesto yesterday, Minister O’Gorman said: “There is a range of offences under public realm legislation that sleeping rough is a breach of and in the context of the very organised situation in Mount Street and the Grand Canal we were reminding people of the legislative process.
“We did this at the same time as providing people with an offer of accommodation and that is important. We recognise they didn’t have an offer previously and I think
An Garda Siochana in recent weeks has taken a humane approach to this issue but now all the people in Mount
Street and the Grand Canal have been given an accommodation offer.
“We can’t force people to take up IPAS accommodation but we have to indicate that the maintenance of large camps isn’t legally permissible.”
The minister said that by autumn, he hopes to have “hundred of beds” available for asylum seekers.
Offers
“One of those short-term strands is a conversion of office blocks into accommodation, so we have had a number of potential offers on that, so we are assessing those at the moment,” he said.
“Hundreds of beds is significant. We have also put out expressions of interest to large institutional buildings that we could purchase.”
Asked if he can understand why Irish people may be frustrated with migrants being offered this kind of accommodation, he said it will be “basic”.
He said: “They are basic but from security, access to hygiene and sanitation they are much better than the situation at Mount Street or the Grand Canal.
“The converted office accommodation is a dormitory or a family in a single room. It is basic, basic levels of accommodation, these aren’t forever homes.”