Plans to house up to 500 international protection applicants in the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock will push ahead despite violent protests by anti-immigration activists earlier this week, the Minister for Integration has said.
Speaking on Wednesday, Roderic O’Gorman said his department’s Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy for asylum seekers was “working and delivering in its various strands” through the provision of State-owned land and expressions of interest for large buildings that could be “repurposed”.
The Minister’s comments followed reports of an alleged attack on tents housing 15 asylum seekers on the Dublin quays. Asylum seekers camping on City Quay reported their tents were slashed with knives and they were threatened with pipes and hurls shortly after 11.30pm on Tuesday.
Mr O’Gorman told RTÉ's News at One programme there were no longer “significant numbers” of asylum-seeking men sleeping rough in Dublin and that efforts were continuing to secure accommodation quickly for those sleeping in tents. Some 2,400 male international protection applicants are currently homeless, according to the latest Government data.
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On Coolock, the Minister said his department had engaged with local elected representatives and community groups earlier this year. “I know we’ve been criticised in the past for not enough engagement, I don’t accept that in this situation. We engaged early and we provided significant information and that engagement will continue.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald disputed these claims and said “virtually nothing has been done” around community engagement in Coolock.
Coolock was a “strong neighbourhood filled with incredibly good, constructive, decent people” and the Government’s “big mistake” was its “failure to engage”, said Ms McDonald.
The Sinn Féin leader rejected the claim that people were seeking a “veto” for who lives in their area. “Those involved in Monday’s violence were a ‘minority’ and a ‘fringe element’,” she said. “The condemnation has been made and we need to move smartly beyond that and engage properly with the decent community of Coolock.”
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns described Tuesday’s City Quay attack as “a despicable new low” and said the “coarsening debate around immigration is leading to increased attacks on migrant communities”.
“The Government’s failure to comply with Ireland’s legal obligations to provide accommodation for those seeking international protection has led to a situation where asylum seekers are putting their safety at risk by being forced to live in tents on our streets. They are not there by choice; they simply have nowhere else to go.”
Social Democrats Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon called on the “full State apparatus” to join together in securing housing for asylum seekers. An “absence of leadership and accountability” was fuelling misinformation which had resulted in attacks on makeshift encampments, said Mr Gannon.
“Poverty and social exclusion is being weaponised – that level of deprivation fuels this level of anger and exclusion, and worries about basic provision of bread and milk is misdirected,” he said. “There’s a real confluence of crises here, we can’t see any of these issues in isolation.”
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