Early this morning, almost two weeks after the previous attempt to clear the capital's encampment, a multi-agency operation was launched to remove tents set up by asylum seekers who had been sleeping along the canal.
Gardaí, staff from Waterways Ireland, the HSE and medics from the charity Safetynet are on site as the operation to clear the site continues.
A number of beds have become available in recent days, resulting in 89 applicants for international protection being offered a place in specially designed accommodation on Tuesday.
Some men received an email from the International Protection Office advising them to go to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum before 10am to take up accommodation.
They were advised to take the number 44 bus or the Luas Greenline.
However, there are still a number of tents at the canal and the remaining asylum seekers have yet to be accommodated.
Many of the men do not speak English and did not know where to go.
Using a translator on a smartphone, a man from Jordan said he didn't know if he had received an email because he can't read. He said he had been sleeping rough on the canal bank for a week.
Another man, Brian Mogotsi, said he arrived in Ireland in January and has not received accommodation since. He said he fled South Africa to seek asylum in Ireland due to fear for his life.
“With each passing day I become more and more desperate,” he said.
“I'm alone here and it can really affect someone. I honestly don't know how long I can keep this up.”
The newest migrant camp on Dublin's Grand Canal had grown to more than a hundred tents two weeks after a similar camp was dismantled.
Today's news in 90 seconds – May 21, 2024
The new camp began to grow between Baggot Street Bridge and Wilton Place on the city center side of the canal, within days of the removal of a camp of around 100 tents at Mount Street Bridge on May 9.
The removal of the Mount Street Bridge site came just over a week after an extensive camp housing more than 200 asylum seekers was dismantled on May 1 from Mount Street, Grattan Street and surrounding side streets and alleys, which had existed for more than a year. year.
Asylum seekers were taken to accommodation in Crooksling and Citywest at the time after local residents and businesses in the Mount Street area threatened legal action.
In a statement this morning, the Ministry of Integration said: “International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) continue to work to ensure that the limited available sleeping space for international protection applicants is prioritized for those most in need, including those living in living in poverty. bad sleeping.”
Last week, Prime Minister Simon Harris defended the government's response to the growing problem of migrant camps, saying he believed “official Ireland was turning a blind eye to the development of what almost became a public health emergency”, to the camp on Mount Street. Lower.
He added that government land must be identified very quickly to provide tent accommodation with sanitary facilities.
“It's extremely important. We have obligations in the field of housing and we fulfill them.
“But it's just part of a broader conversation that needs to happen about what a sustainable migration system looks like,” Harris said last week.