The Government is said to be adopting a more "pragmatic" approach to the housing of asylum seekers as figures show application numbers have almost halved compared to this time last year.
Figures released by the International Protection Office reveal that the total number of applications received between January and April this year was 4,096, compared to 7,187 over the same period last year.
It comes as the Government announced it would not be pursuing plans to establish an accommodation centre for asylum seekers at the old Crown Paints factory site in Coolock, north Dublin.
A statement by the Department of Justice – which recently took over responsibility for Ireland’s asylum system – explained that, among its considerations when deciding on the Coolock site, was the “current level of need in the sector”.
It said it also gives consideration to the location, access to services and welfare of residents.
Locals expressed their disapproval at the plans last summer during tense and violent clashes with Gardaí which resulted in a total of 40 arrests.
John Lannon, chief executive of Limerick humanitarian organisation Doras, which works with refugees and asylum seekers, told The Journal that he believes the government has become “pragmatic” about centres in light of the reduced pressure.
“The numbers of people applying for international protection have gone down, which is obviously resulting in a bit less pressure on the system,” he said.
Lannon also pointed to a shift from Ukrainian to IPAS accommodation by some private sector providers as being behind a freeing up of space for asylum seekers, lessening the need to establish alternative accommodation centres elsewhere.
“And if and where they’re successful then that helps to ease up room,” Lannon said. “The consequence of that, of course, is that you get Ukrainians who have started to make a life for themselves in one part of the country, then they are uprooted and brought to a different part of the country.”
Lannon said that “huge efforts” had been made to try and get people who’ve received documentation out of the existing IPAS centres, which he said has not been as successful because of the lack of availability of housing.
The allocation of derelict and unused sites as IPAS centres has caused consternation in many other areas around the country, with one Dublin councillor recently calling for "calm heads" amid heightening tensions.
Labour Darragh Moriarty was speaking after locals have been protesting at Basin View in Dublin 8, picketing a construction site near an existing IPAS centre.
Protests have been ongoing at 9A Basin View since construction work began last week, with some individuals reportedly “obstructing staff from accessing the site”, which is close to three nearby schools.
Moriarty said “there has been some aggression and intimidation”, including reports of verbal abuse aimed at parents and children on the narrow residential street.
“I have heard reports that some of the younger men, in particular, were quite abusive towards some of the parents bringing children in [to school],” he said.
“A really awful racial slur was used and targeted at one of the children.”
Cllr Moriarty said some residents and parents later apologised to the school community, insisting the incident did not represent the broader protest.
