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There are no plans to move the International Protection Office (IPO) from its current location, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The confirmation follows a call by residents in the Mount Street area for the asylum processing facility to be moved to an alternative site.
The call was in response to the erection of tents a short distance from the IPO, after a separate encampment was removed from Mount Street over a week ago.
More than 100 tents pitched along the Grand Canal were removed yesterday in a multi-agency operation.
Residents from around the Mount Street area welcomed the operation but said more needs to be done.
“In the space of under a week it had grown to 100 tents, so we are relieved to see it removed,” said Mr Byrne.
“But the main thing to note is that this is the fourth time in a year that an operation like this has been required in the area and that’s why we would be of the view that the IPO processing can no longer be safely operated in the city centre and needs to moved to a location where wrap-around services for the inflow that the State is getting can be provided, we can’t provide security, sanitation and other important basic services on city centre streets,” he added.
The area where the tents had been pitched along the banks of the Grand Canal is less than 400 metres from the IPO on Mount Street, where around 100 tents were previously removed in an operation .
The asylum seekers were relocated to other accommodation in locations including Crooksling and the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
Barriers were erected on either side of the canal to prevent tents from being pitched there again.
The Department of Justice confirmed that the IPO will remain at its current location.
It said that by doubling the number of staff and trebling the number of IPO decisions capacity had continued to “ramp up” within the international protection system.
There are also plans to increase “processing capacity”.
A second facility for families and accompanied children under 18 years old, has been operating at Citywest for the past month, to ensure that “as many applications as possible” are registered on the day of application.
The number of interview rooms at Mount Street has also doubled in recent months, to 40.
Additional reporting Laura Fletcher
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