More than 40 homeless asylum seekers who had set up a tent camp near Leinster House in Dublin city centre have been offered accommodation.
Following a tense standoff between the men and volunteers supporting them, and gardaí, through Thursday morning most of the international protection applicants (IPAs) received emails offering accommodation.
From about lunchtime they received offers of shelter in Crooksling in southwest Dublin and at River House in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.
The emails advised them to “take all belongings with you including sleeping bags and tents”.
More than 50 tents had been pitched at Kildare Place, a square adjacent to the National Museum on Kildare Street, on Wednesday night after men who had been accommodated by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) in Citywest, Dublin under a cold weather initiative were told to leave.
At about 11.30am on Thursday, up to 10 gardaí arrived telling the men they could not stay in the area and to pack up the tents and proceed to the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street. A number of parties supporting the men advocated on their behalf in the exchanges with gardaí.
Bríd Smith, the former People Before Profit-Solidarity TD, who was at the camp, explained was nowhere for the men to go and there was no way of contacting IPAS at the Mount Street office. The gardaí advised them they would be referred to IPAS by IPO staff at the office. A volunteer supporting the men said this had not been their experience in the past.
During a heavy rain shower, Ms Smith told a garda she was advising the men not to leave the area until they had received offers of accommodation.
“They desperately want to get back into Citywest or anywhere out of the rain,” she told the garda with about 40 men gathered around them. “They are all desperately waiting on emails. What we want to know before we send them is where do they sleep?”
Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, was also at the scene of the stand-off.
“If these guys go down to Mount Street, they won’t be let in,” he told the garda. “The area has barricades around it. They won’t be allowed set up tents. This is as good as they’ll get.”
One member of the force replied that they had to maintain security and a cordon because they were beside Government Buildings. The standoff continued, in heavy rain, until about lunchtime, with the garda reiterating his instruction that the men must leave the area and bring their tents, and the volunteers and men saying they had nowhere to go.
Accommodation offers had arrived by lunchtime, with one man (19) from Afghanistan saying he was “very happy”.
“This morning I was very cold. Thank you for everyone who help us. Without these people we are nothing, we are homeless forever,” he said. “We got accommodation. I can’t explain how much we are happy.”
He said he had been studying business management in Afghanistan and until 2020 had played on the under-17 Afghan national football team. “But now I can’t play, my skills are not good,” he said.
Asked if he would ever like to play for Ireland, he said: “Inshallah. Why not?”
The Department of Children, which oversees the IPAS, has been asked for a comment.
As of Tuesday there were 3,001 male adult asylum seekers awaiting an offer of accommodation, according to the department.
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