Tents for asylum seekers appear on new section of Dublin’s Grand Canal a day after authorization – The Irish Times

More than 20 tents housing homeless asylum seekers were set up along the Grand Canal on Friday morning, a few hundred meters from where more than 100 tents were removed on Thursday.

It is understood the homeless men include some who have been in Dublin for several weeks. Several of those awake at 8 a.m. and sitting next to a nearby bridge were from Afghanistan and Palestine.

Several had been at the Grand Canal camp but had missed the buses taking the men to Crooksling, south-west of Dublin, and Dundrum during the clearing of that area early on Thursday morning.

The tents were set up in the area of ​​Wilton Terrace, between Baggot Street and Leeson Street, in the south of Dublin city centre.

Shortly before 9 in the morning, several men left the area to go to breakfast. While passersby largely ignored the tents, several stopped to take photos of the row of tents under the trees.

After an operation to move 160 people from the canal to other locations, Taoiseach Simon Harris said on Thursday that the days of asylum seekers living in tents on the streets of Dublin for weeks or months were over. .

Asylum seekers were given an information sheet during the 6am operation on Thursday and were told that they did not have permission to remain by the canal, that tents could be confiscated and that asylum seekers Asylum seekers could be prosecuted if they refused to leave the tent camps.

“You are committing a crime. “If you refuse to come to available accommodation or return later to stay in this area, you may be removed by An Garda Síochána (police) and you may be arrested and prosecuted,” the information dossier says.

An early morning operation on Dublin’s Grand Canal saw the removal of around 100 tents pitched by asylum seekers. Video: Alan Betson/Kitty Holland (,)

The number of asylum seekers taken in by the State has surpassed 30,000 for the first time, as the Government considers a review of the support available for those not under direct provision.

The Department of Justice confirmed to The Irish Times that a total of 7,667 people had applied for international protection this year as of May 7, an increase of more than 2,500 from the last official figures of 5,162 on March 31.

A total of 30,027 people are housed (compared to 29,456 at the end of April) and another 1,825 are waiting for an accommodation offer from the State, according to the latest data published on Thursday evening by the Department of Integration.