Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said it is expected that Thornton Hall will be ready to accommodate asylum seekers in four to six weeks time.
Yesterday, it was confirmed by the Department of Integration that tented accommodation for asylum seekers will be provided at the north Dublin site.
The tents would be pitched in a part of the site that is already “serviced”. This includes toilets, sanitation facilities, along with kitchens and eating areas.
The department said that it was working with the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice to use a portion of the 160-acre site for this emergency accommodation.
It comes after more than 90 tents were pitched along the Grand Canal in Dublin yesterday morning, between Baggot Street Bridge and Wilton Place.
The encampment was mostly asylum seekers who have been given tents by agencies due to an absence of State accommodation.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Martin said that the move to Thornton Hall would “alleviate a lot of pressures”.
He said a tented solution “ultimately is not the ideal solution” but it was “far better” than having tents on the streets.
Mr Martin said that there are “huge, unprecedented numbers” of asylum seekers coming into the country and across all of Europe.
He told the programme that strong, fair and firm procedures were needed to accelerate the consideration of asylum applications.
“And we are doing that in terms of designating more safe countries, the numbers have reduced by 50% as a result of the designation of more countries,” he said.
“We do need to make sure that those who are seeking genuine asylum for war and conflict are processed, but also that those who are not entitled to stay here are dealt with faster than has been the case.”
Thornton Hall was purchased by the State in 2004 at a cost of almost €30 million. It was planned at the time to build a prison on the site which also has a well-maintained late 19th century period property.
