Over 100 male asylum applicants are being relocated from their dwellings in Citywest and Crooksling, which are located in the southwestern part of Dublin. This movement seems to aim at freeing up space for others who are residing in makeshift shelters along the Grand Canal.
Some 60 men were readying themselves to vacate Crooksling on Wednesday, and around 50 more expected to exit Citywest on the following day, according to inhabitants of both areas. Notices have been published at these locations indicating that the relocations are set to occur from 10am, but the men haven’t been informed about their new location yet.
At Crooksling, a list was put up on a billboard on Tuesday with the names of approximately 60 men hailing from countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Nigeria. The notice asked those mentioned to report to a security cabin at 10.00 a.m. on 08/05/2024 along with all their possessions, stating they’d be shifted to a different location with no further information available regarding their new site.
In Citywest, a screen notification estimated to be in the central dining space, announced a transfer for the 9th of May, 2024. It requested that those who received a transfer letter should be present in the departure zone at 10 a.m that day.
These changes are being undertaken in light of an escalating number of tents being set up by homeless asylum seekers along the Grand Canal in the city centre, as well as mounting governmental pressure to avoid any increase in numbers.
On Tuesday, Taoiseach Simon Harris firmly insisted that the situation with asylum seekers’ tents appearing along the Grand Canal near Baggot Street was distinct from the encampment issue at Mount Street. He said plans were being made to identify alternative housing.
A week following the removal of tents from the streets around the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street – through which accommodation had been offered to 290 individuals – nearly 100 tents could be seen on the canal stretch between Mount Street and Baggot Street. Additional tents were spotted on land near the Salesforce offices in the Docklands.
Mr Harris conveyed that new lodging provisions would be made for incoming refugees by the Government. They were determined to prevent a Mount Street-like situation from happening again. As recorded by the Department of Children and Integration, as on Tuesday, accommodation was awaited by 1,710 asylum seekers.
Post the declaration by the Department on 4th of December, 2023, that they wouldn’t be providing immediate shelter to male asylum seekers, the number of applications from men rose to 2,935. Following an assessment of “vulnerability triage”, 288 of these applicants were provided with shelter. Another 937 applicants, initially denied accommodation, were later provided with shelter.
A counter-demonstration was faced by anti-immigration protestors in Dublin.