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People seeking asylum being moved from tents on Mount Street are being moved to facilities where they will have “all the wrap-around services”, according to Minister For Trade, Enterprise and Employment Peter Burke .
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Burke said that some of the people may still be living in tents where they are being moved to.
“There are a number of officially accredited IPAs areas where they’ve been taken, where they will have healthcare services, where they will have food, shelter and accommodation,” he said.
Mr Burke admitted that it has been a “very difficult situation” which the Government has responded to.
“We know that Government has given 2,500 beds brought into circulation from 1 January, we have a significant challenge looking at pre-pandemic figures.
“It’s up nearly 200%, people coming into our country, and the Government has prioritised women and children first.
“But it’s important that we had a public safety issue in terms people, very vulnerable people on Mount Street.
“It was a public health issue for them as well and for residents and area and businesses.
“So, I would welcome that. Those vulnerable people are being cared for and moved on because that’s so important. We’re dealing with human beings here”.
He said he did not know exactly where the men were being taken but said “there’s a number of sites”.
They will be well cared for at the locations, Mr Burke said.
“Security is provided, they would have healthcare, all the wrap-around services will be there to support very vulnerable people.”
Read more: ‘Unlivable’ conditions for asylum seekers on Mount St
‘Very challenging situation’
Mr Burke admitted that it has been a “very difficult situation” which the Government has responded to.
“If you look at people who are designated in countries that have been fast-tracked, safe countries, their applications have reduced by 50% over the last number of weeks,” he said.
This shows “Ireland has a fair rules-based immigration system”, Mr Burke added.
However he said they are “in a challenging environment” and said that the way to resolve it is to sign up to the EU Migration Pact.
“What that will do, it would allow us link into Europe, working together to get data sets and allow us to deal with secondary movements where people have applied for asylum in other countries and we need to ensure that that’s operational now,” he said.
Problem across Europe
The Longford-Westmeath TD also said that “every single country” across Europe is grappling with the issue of immigration.
“It’s a huge scale and the only way we’ll solve it is together. We saw what Brexit, what the UK did when they left. Essentially, they said it was about migration. Around 100,000 people come in a year, at that point it went close to 1,000,000 after Brexit.
“So, that just shows that their target was to get down to 100,000 and went the opposite direction. We need to be linked into a European system to EuroDac and work together to solve this problem.”
Read more: Just 162 asylum seekers returned to UK under previous legislation
He said that there is an agreement in place between the UK and Ireland and the Government expects that to be honoured.
“We have an agreement post-Brexit, an operating agreement with the UK and we expect that to be honoured and we’re in control of our rules, which we will ensure is fair and evenly handed and ensure that our country is operating at a very robust immigration system,” he said.
“First of all, what we have to do is focus at our immigration policy is fair and rules-based.
“Our big issue is returning to safe countries. We have proven now over the last number of weeks that that has achievable by the reduction by the evidence of the numbers that are coming in and we will continue that trajectory.”
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