Ireland to move towards large-scale reception centres for asylum seekers

Ireland will move towards providing large-scale reception centres for international protection applicants, a Government minister has confirmed. 

There has been unrest over a number of former hotels being used centres to house asylum seekers, with a several protests outside these buildings. 

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan told RTÉ on Sunday that there will be a shift to more medium or longer-term planning to house people arriving into the country.

He confirmed that Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman will bring proposals to the Cabinet in the coming weeks for the purchase of large-scale reception centres, similar to the one already in place in Dublin’s City West.

While he confirmed that some locations have already been selected, he added that the process "will take time".

Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week, Minister Ryan said the number of international protection applicants entering the country in the past two years has been "unprecedented".

However, he said that Ireland will continue to provide accommodation. "We cannot close our doors, we cannot say to the rest of the world: Ireland is full," he said.

"We do need to switch away from relying on this large number of small and emergency facilities from the private sector towards using certain number of centres that will be better for everyone because they won’t be on such a needs-must basis at the last minute," he said. 

There have been a number of protests in recent weeks at proposed locations of such centres. 

The most recent of these is at Racket Hall in Roscrea, where a protest has been staged for the past three nights.

Protestors say they will attempt to block any vehicles carrying asylum seekers from entering the car park of the Racket Hall Hotel and have arranged shifts to ensure the barricade is manned at all times.

The Racket Hall Hotel was the only hotel operating in Roscrea until it closed the doors to the public on Thursday night following the announcement the owners of the facility have signed a 12-month contract to use its 40 rooms to accommodate 160 "families of international protection applicants".

Weddings and family events, as well as several concerts and comedy shows, were abruptly cancelled and staff met management during the week and were offered the option of retaining their jobs with additional training provided as necessary.