Updated: 11am
There is an urgent need for a “robust, mature” system to deal with the reality of the numbers seeking international protection in Ireland, the chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Sinead Gibney has said
The situation is no longer “unprecedented”, she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Since the war had broken out in Ukraine, it had been known that “this was coming” and that pressure on services was likely to happen, she added.
The State needs to address the medium and long term issue, and handing recently arrived applicants vouchers and a sleeping bag were not the solution, she said.
Ms Gibney noted this approach is particularly unsuitable at a time when temperatures are falling, and there is an anti-immigrant sentiment among parts of the population.
Homeless services are already stretched to capacity, and the State is not meeting the basic rights of international asylum seekers in line with its EU obligations, she added.
Ms Gibney acknowledged the “incredible work” that has been done to date by “State employees and civil society”, but pointed out that people have the right to seek international protection in Ireland, and they had the right while that claim was being processed, to have their basic needs met.
“It is impossible to see how that's happening in these sorts of circumstances.
“We urge the Government to deal with this now to find accommodation, wherever that is, to meet the basic needs of these people, but also to address the medium and long term,” Ms Gibney said.
“We knew this was coming, the State knew this was coming, the Government knew this was coming, and since the war started in Ukraine 18 months ago, we knew that these numbers were likely to happen. The projections all said so. I do not see the development of that medium and long term planning.
“What we need is a robust system, a mature system that deals with what is now a reality, which is the constant movement of people. These numbers aren't going anywhere, they're only going to increase with climate crisis, so what we need to see is a system like our health system or our education system, which deals with that reality in a mature way.
“We need to see the State reaching its obligations under the EU Receptions Directive, and in my mind, as a State, we should be going beyond that and offering better conditions.
“What we see is that migration to this country, inward migration is a positive thing, whether that's people coming in through international protection, refugee systems or through economic migrant migration, and we need to be positive about this.
“We also need to see political leadership when people in positions of power are not talking about this in the emergency way and in the burdened kind of language that we're used to and instead frame it differently,” Ms Gibney added.
Whole-Government approach
Meanwhile, the secretary general of the Irish Red Cross, Deirdre Garvey, called for a whole of Government approach to the accommodation problem.
No one should be without shelter, no matter where they come from, she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne.
Unused larger buildings, such as office blocks or warehouses, could be used to provide temporary accommodation for those seeking asylum, she said, adding that anything was better than sleeping on the street.
She noted the Red Cross had provided accommodation for 900 people in an office block in Belgium.
“Nobody should be without shelter, whether they be Irish, whether they be Ukrainian, or whether they be from further afield seeking international protection and refuge,” Ms Garvey said.
“Living on the street in a tent is simply not safe, and that's really the basic fact of the matter.
“The Government has done really well in terms of finding the short term solution to the crisis. Nobody thought that this would go on for long. We have in this country private accommodation for 75,000 refugees from the war in Ukraine and 25,000 seeking international protection, so yes, we are dealing with unprecedented numbers for our country.
“But the way the world is moving and the way the world is changing, I think we need to understand that although the Government has done well in terms of short term solution to the crisis, it really isn't clear at this stage what the long term plan is, and after 18 months, we are hitting the territory where short term needs medium to long term, and that is where we have a lacuna. That's where we have a gap.”
“That is why we are hearing on the news that we simply don't have any beds, and I guess what we are calling for is a renewed whole-of-Government crisis approach to this, in terms of using the incredible innovation and the motivation that was used in the last 18 months to apply to unused larger buildings, commercial state owned anything is better than sleeping on the streets or in a tent.”
Ms Garvey highlighted the Government has a list of commercial properties available, along with state-owned properties, such as nursing homes or psychiatric facilities.
She acknowledged that there were practical fire safety and compliance issues, but said these matters could and should be clarified and resolved, rather than purchasing tents and increasing co-benefits for people living on the street.
“We have to find a solution.”
