More than 100 tents for asylum seekers removed from Dublin’s Grand Canal during early morning operation – The Irish Times

More than 100 tents that had housed homeless asylum seekers along the Grand Canal in central Dublin since late last week have been removed during an inter-agency operation early this morning.

The number of tents along the stretch of canal, near Mount Street Lower, where the International Protection Office (IPO) headquarters is located, rose to more than 100 on Wednesday.

Gardaí, HSE and Waterways Ireland workers began waking the men in their tents at around 7am and directing them towards several coaches. They handed the men notices telling them they “do not have permission” to camp by the canal and warning them that if they refused to leave, gardaí would move them.

Barriers similar to those erected on Mount Street last week have been erected along the banks of the canal to prevent tents from being set up. By 7:50 in the morning the place had been cleared of tents and the people staying in them.

Although the men did not know where they would be taken, it is understood they will be taken by bus to a site in Crooksling, south-west Dublin, where some people staying in tents were moved from outside the IPO last week, and accommodation in Citywest.

Some said they didn’t want to go to Crooksling because they had already been there and left to return to the town centre.

At around 7.15am, Waterways Ireland staff were collecting tents to be removed by grapple trucks.

A significant number of those sleeping next to the canal came from Palestine, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. No one who spoke to The Irish Times on Wednesday was aware of the planned authorization.

However, Taoiseach Simon Harris had promised that action would be taken “very soon” to address the situation and told the Fine Gael parliamentary party that issues such as the camp “will be addressed”. Last week he had said that he would not allow “makeshift slums” to develop before the tents were removed from outside the IPO.

There is serious concern at the highest levels of Government over what one source described on Wednesday night as “record levels” of new arrivals as the State struggles to find additional space. Sources said more than 610 people arrived last week, including families with children, a number that would normally arrive here in a two-month period.

A Government statement said: “A joint operation between the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; the Department of Justice; An Garda Síochána; Dublin City Council; Waterways Ireland; and the HSE is underway on Dublin’s Grand Canal.

“The purpose of the operation is to ensure the safe movement of people seeking international protection from tents on the Grand Canal to accommodation designated by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS). IPAS designated accommodation has toilets and showers; Health services; indoor areas where food is provided; facilities for charging phones and personal devices; access to transport to and from Dublin city centre; and 24-hour on-site security.”

The note distributed at the scene Thursday morning read: “Good morning. We are from the International Protective Accommodation Service (IPAS). We are here to offer accommodation to all International Protection applicants in this area. We will need to see your Temporary Resident Card (‘blue card’) and then you will need to collect your belongings and board the bus that will take you to your accommodation. You don’t need to bring your tent. It will be removed for health and safety reasons. You will be safe in the accommodation and there will be food and hygiene facilities and IPAS will be able to support you.

“You are not allowed to stay in a property next to the Grand Canal in Dublin. You are committing a crime. If he refuses to come to available accommodation, or if he returns later to stay in this area, An Garda Síochána may deport him and arrest and prosecute him.”

Labor leader Ivana Bacik, who represents South Dublin Bay, where the stretch of the Grand Canal is located, welcomed the fact that alternative accommodation for asylum seekers “appears to have been found”.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme, Ms Bacik praised local residents and volunteers who had provided support to people, but said the situation had been “inhumane and unsustainable” and there was “a lack of joint thinking” in the Government on the subject. .