Asylum seekers who have been told by gardaí to move tents from locations in Dublin are being made to “feel criminalised” because of a lack of accommodation, volunteers working with the recent arrivals say.
In one of the latest incidents, a group of asylum-seeking men that pitched their tents in South Dublin’s Herbert Park were moved on by gardaí on Tuesday night despite having nowhere else to sleep.
Eleven men, all of them Jordanian and Palestinian, were told to leave the Ballsbridge park on Tuesday but were not given an alternative accommodation option.
As concerns around violent attacks and anti-immigrant sentiment in the capital persist, the men were advised to call gardaí “if anyone tries to attack you”, according to one volunteer who was present.
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A Garda spokesman said gardaí from Donnybrook “engaged with a number of individuals” who attempted to erect tents shortly after 9.30pm on Tuesday and that those present “complied with the request from gardaí and no offences were disclosed”.
Some of the men eventually pitched tents along the Grand Canal, while others wandered into the city centre, the volunteer told The Irish Times. Those camping along the canal were subsequently asked to move on Wednesday.
Two days previously, a group of men camping along a stretch of grass at Beggar’s Bush were similarly moved on by gardaí. It is a pattern of camping and moving which has continued since March when the Government first cleared tents that appeared around Mount Street Lower outside the International Protection Office.
More than 2km of metal barriers were erected by Waterways Ireland along the Grand Canal earlier this summer to prevent the return of asylum seekers who were using the banks as a campsite.
Some 2,352 asylum-seeking men have no housing and are awaiting an offer of accommodation, according to the latest Government statistics.
Volunteers supporting rough sleeping asylum seekers said they feel “frustrated and hopeless” as the Government continues providing tents to newly arrived male asylum seekers, while simultaneously stating it is illegal to camp in the city. Tents are given to asylum seekers through Government-funded service providers tasked with supporting those awaiting an offer of accommodation.
“It’s the whole lack of empathy and compassion,” said a male volunteer who was with the men in Herbert Park when gardaí arrived. “There’s rules and regulations but we’re talking about 11 human beings who are tired, some had only arrived in Ireland that day. And it’s not just about finding them a place to camp, it’s the worry about finding a place where they’re safe.”
Moving these men on is “degrading”, said a woman volunteer, who was also present on Tuesday. “Giving people no place to sleep, no place to go, making them feel criminalised for being here. How can you give them a tent and then punish them if they dare open it?”
The Garda spokesman confirmed it was a “criminal offence for a person to pitch a tent on public land or on private land without consent”.
“Depending on the particular circumstances of each individual case, the person may be moved on, requested to remove their tents, or the tent may be seized if there is a refusal to remove the tents. Each case must be considered on its own set of facts regarding prosecution.”
An Garda has “no statutory responsibility for the provision of accommodation to any person,” he said, adding the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) oversees asylum seeker housing.
A Department of Integration spokesman, speaking on behalf of IPAS, said it arranges regular outreach for international protection applicants who are rough sleeping and offers accommodation places “as they become available.”
More than 4,000 beds have been brought on stream since January, accommodating around 1,000 asylum seekers who previously had no housing, he said. IPAS has increased housing for asylum seekers by 400 per cent since 2020, he added.
Dermot Lacey, councillor for Dublin Bay South where Herbert Park and Beggar’s Bush are located, described the policy of repeatedly clearing tents and moving on asylum seekers as “absurd”.
“It isn’t good for the people involved or the local communities to have people camping in parks or along rivers”.
Mr Lacey said he had received a small number of complaints from local residents about campsites appearing along roads and in Herbert Park but that it was “not an issue raised with me even once during the local elections campaign”.
“I understand we suddenly have a problem that other countries have had over a prolonged period but the Government has also had long enough to provide non-public sites for this camping.”
Mr Lacey said he did not believe local authorities should play a bigger role in securing housing for asylum seekers, and that it was important to honour the commitment of keeping local authority housing separate to accommodation for Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers.
“Honouring that commitment and telling the truth are essential to tackling that problem,” said Mr Lacey.
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