Refugee centres too little, too late
Fears new immigration housing plan will only cater for a fraction of applicants as 20,000 asylum seekers expected here this year
UP to 20,000 asylum seekers are expected to arrive here this year – almost twice the number in 2023, figures obtained by the Irish Mail of Sunday have indicated.
There has been a sharp fall in the number of Ukrainians coming to Ireland in recent weeks since the Government announced significant welfare cuts for newly arrived refugees fleeing war in their homeland.
The number of Ukrainian arrivals dropped from 2,150 last month to just 796 for the first three weeks of January.
However, more than 1,700 International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) applicants sought asylum here this month.
Commenting on the figures, a senior Government source told the MoS: ‘The figures
‘We need a strategy and we need to stop drifting’
have gone through the roof. It is a tale of two halves. The figures for Ukrainians indicate [Integration Minister] Roderic got the call right [to reduce welfare benefits], but it is estimated that over 1,700 international refugees have sought protection this month.
‘That represents 50% increase for the figures for the same time period last year… we could be seeing over 20,000 entering [the country] this year.’
The significant increase in asylum numbers has exacerbated concerns that the Government’s new immigration plan to house IPAS applicants in State-built reception centres will only cater for a fraction of the numbers arriving in Ireland.
One minister said of the Coalition’s new plan to deal with rising immigration, which was initially due to be released on February 1: ‘The figures indicate this strategy needs to be pulled together very swiftly.’
A Government source said this weekend that ‘a draft document’ of the new white paper ‘is set to go to the party leaders individually next week’.
But one Cabinet member told the MoS this weekend: ‘We need now, as a matter of urgency, to move beyond hand and mouth stuff of going from village to village.
‘We need a strategy… we need to stop drifting and intervene strongly. The narrative has to move on. There needs to be facts and a plan.
‘Speculation about acquisitions [of buildings to be repurposed as asylum reception centres] in the future is not helpful when it comes to calming fears.’
The MoS has learned Citywest Hotel in Dublin, which already hosts large numbers of refugees, is the favourite to be the first facility to be purchased. Thornton Hall, the disused north Dublin site of a proposed super-prison has also been strongly touted.
There is also speculation land owned by the McEvaddy brothers beside Dublin Airport, which had been earmarked for a third terminal, is being considered as a ‘green field option’.
Despite the significant challenges the Government faces following a spate of anti-immigration protests across the country, Coalition leaders believe they can turn the tide on ‘political opportunists’ by tackling exaggerated claims about the ‘influx of refugees’ here.
A senior Government source told the MoS: ‘The rise in anti-immigration sentiment is running out of direction. People are starting to look and to listen and to see there is no tide.’
In reference to protests over plans to accommodate 160 families in a local hotel in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, they added: ‘It is a flurry that will blow itself out if we and Roderic stop making stupid mistakes like Roscrea.’
This more aggressive approach to tackling disinformation around immigration was echoed by Minister for State Niall Collins, who told the Mail on Sunday: ‘We need a bit of context around this. We had 13,000 international protection applicants last year; that’s a fifth of 1% of our population.
‘We need to get real and start getting things in context, like, for example, 40% of the workers in our health service are immigrants.’
In a rare sign of inter-coalition collegiality, Mr Collins also praised recent comments by Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys, who noted the social insurance contributions from foreign nationals have risen from €3bn a year to €17bn over the past ten years.
The Limerick County TD said: ‘That needs to be recognised; immigrants are serious contributors to our society.’
He also criticised ongoing fearmongering about ‘single unvetted males’ arriving here, adding: ‘It is time people recognise that men feel the cold in the street as much as women and children.’
Speaking about the new approach, another minister told the MoS: ‘We are going to take on dishonest narratives from now on.
‘People on the right and left need
to be careful of the politics of immigration. They are playing with matches, and fires are being lit as a consequence.
‘There are some bad actors in this and they will be taken on.’
In a move to boost resources in communities hosting asylum seekers and refugees, Tánaiste Micheál Martin recently signalled a significant increase in the €50m Community Recognition Fund administered by Ms Humphreys’s department.
Mr Martin said in the Dáil: ‘We will be introducing further supports for communities and we may provide this more directly to the communities. It was done via local
authorities the last time and it was okay. Approximately 30% of projects are complete and we hope to get them all completed by the end of the year.
Another minister also confirmed the Government ‘is looking at a significant increase in the Community Recognition Fund’. The funding was allocated last year based on the number of new arrivals to each local authority area in recognition of those towns and villages that have made particular efforts in welcoming and housing Ukrainians as well as international protection applicants.