Migrants still being housed in buildings which do not have planning permission
State struggling to accommodate 55k refugees
ASYLUM seekers are continuing to be housed in accommodation without planning permission as the State struggles to meet the level of demand for refuge.
The Government is trying to house around 48,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, amid a housing crisis, as well as finding accommodation for more than 7,000 international protection applicants from other countries.
In June, the Minister for Housing and Planning, Darragh O’Brien, introduced emergency regulations, that bypass aspects of planning laws, to provide temporary accommodation for refugees arriving here from war-torn Ukraine.
A Department spokesman explained: ‘They are explicitly linked to the Temporary Protection Directive as it applies to Ukraine. Officials from DCEDIY (the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth) have been in contact with officials in this department to discuss these regs,’ he said.
The exemption does not apply to accommodation centres for people seeking asylum through international protection orders.
However, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned that asylum seekers are currently being housed in a building on the University College Dublin campus that does not have planning permission.
A spokeswoman for DCEDIY said they were currently operating in an ‘emergency situation’ in their attempt to find accommodation.
‘In the current emergency situation, IPAS [International Protection Accommodation Service] is urgently prioritising the use of a wide range of accommodation options to provide necessary shelter to international protection applicants.
‘The planning basis of one site in use on the UCD campus has been highlighted and is being actively examined,’ she said.
Responsibility for the enforcement of planning law lies with each local authority and An Bord Pleanála.
The department spokeswoman insisted all other accommodation centres ‘are fully planning-compliant’ with planning legislation. ‘All operators at our sites are required to have the appropriate fire certification in place prior to any contract being entered into’. the spokesowoman added
The DCEDIY has been seeking to have the emergency powers extended to cover the IPAS centres, however Mr O’Brien has been reluctant to do so.
Last week, our sister newspaper the Irish Daily Mail revealed that 50 asylum seekers were forced to sleep in partitioned booths that had previously been used for a Covid19 testing facility, without any planning permission. The asylum seekers, believed to be mainly from Georgia, had to sleep for three nights in the testing booths, without them even being dismantled.
The centre was located in the former Finglas Covid-19 testing centre in an industrial estate in the north Dublin suburb.
The centre became operational as accommodation for asylum seekers without the knowledge of local TDs and councillors, who immediately raised concerns with officials in Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman’s office.
Hours after receiving questions from the Mail about the suitability and legality of the centre, the department said that it was now shutting down the former Covid facility.
More than 7,000 international protection applicants arrived in Ireland between January and July of this year, more than double the number of people recorded for the whole of 2021.
The Department of Justice also intends to resume repatriations for some of those who have arrived in this country, after the pandemic had brought the process to an abrupt halt.
However, this takes several months and accommodation is required while an individual’s case is being assessed.
Figures published by the Central Statistics (CSO) last week show that almost 48,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived here since the Invasion of the country by Russia
‘There are a wide range of accomodation options’
‘Of course I’m afraid of giving birth in a tent’
began in February. Around 3,000 Ukrainian refugees are being moved out of student accommodation this month, with the State struggling to source new housing units for them to move in to.
The first modular homes will be occupied in November.
Capacity at the Gormanston military camp has been ‘scaled up’ to accommodate more Ukrainian refugees who have to leave college accommodation as the large number of students return.
The camp had previously been operating below capacity due to ‘operational reasons’ but it increased from last week.
Last week, a pregnant Ukrainian woman, Paulina Gryshchenko, 30, was told she will have to vacate the student accommodation she is staying in Cork and fears having to bring a new-born into a tent.
‘Of course, I’m afraid to be accommodated in the tent … of course I’m worried about that [staying in a tent]. I will need some corner where I can look after baby and a place to wash the baby,’ she said.