THE time taken by the Department of Justice to process asylum applications forces the homeless and asylum seekers to compete for emergency accommodation, the chairwoman of the Homeless Initiative has said.
The Government set up the Homeless Initiative to help co-ordination between agencies providing services for the homeless.
Due to an average wait of two years, asylum seekers must live in emergency accommodation mostly used for homeless people. Ms Mary Higgins said.
The "recent influx of asylum seekers is putting pressure on existing facilities for the homeless", she said, and the increase in asylum seekers sometimes meant that homeless people could not obtain accommodation.
She said this was not the fault of asylum seekers but the Department of Justice which is "still very slow in assessing asylum applications", despite the signing into law of the Refugee Bill.
Ms Ursula Fraser, legal officer with the Irish Refugee Council, said asylum seekers were not allowed to place themselves on waiting lists for public housing, so were forced into emergency accommodation, such as bed and breakfasts, also used by the homeless.
She agreed there were "instances of homeless people not getting beds because they are being used by asylum seekers".
Ms Higgins's comments were made yesterday at a meeting with Dublin Corporation to discuss the draft plan of the Homeless Initiative, set up by the Minister for Housing, Ms Liz McManus, to ensure that services for homeless people are more effective".
Ms Higgins said 3,000 asylum seekers were expected in Ireland next year and increasing strain would be placed on homeless agencies trying to find emergency accommodation.
There were now more asylum seekers seeking emergency accommodation in Dublin than the homeless, she claimed.
Ms Fraser said homeless people and asylum seekers sometimes queued together outside emergency hostels. She said the provisions of the Refugee Act were "not in operation" and this was the main reason for the delay in processing applications.
The Homeless Initiative will shortly publish its plan for its first year. The plan, seen by Tile Irish Times, includes proposals for an audit of all services provided for the homeless, new standards for emergency accommodation and a working group to look at the routes into homelessness".