Refugees told they are to be moved as hotels prepare for holiday season

The Department of Integration has started contacting 1,600 refugees living in hotels, telling them they are being moved on as the tourist-season accommodation shortage looms into view.

Some letters have already been sent to those affected, which include families with children of school-going age. All those impacted will be written to in the coming days, the Department confirmed on Friday.

They are living in hotels where contracts are due to expire before the end of April and the provider is not renewing.

Four hotels whose contracts are expiring in that time frame have indicated that they will not be renewing. However, the Department is unable to say what form of emergency accommodation will be provided for those being moved on.

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“All affected residents will receive a letter in the coming days advising them that their current temporary accommodation is coming to an end but that they will be reaccommodated in another location over the coming weeks,” a spokeswoman said.

The residents will be first to know where they are going and the Department said it will “work closely ... to minimise disruption”.

A spokeswoman also warned that while efforts are being undertaken to source emergency accommodation, “procuring enough bed space to keep pace with incoming arrivals remains extremely challenging, leading to very significant shortages”.

The spokeswoman said that due to the pressure on the system and the high number of arrivals, it has “no option” but to consider all offers of accommodation, “including the use of tented accommodation, office buildings and sports facilities to address the accommodation shortfall”.

The spokeswoman said these were necessary in order to meet basic needs and prevent homelessness. Children of school-going age will receive assistance in relation to school places in their new accommodation.

It comes as the Department of Integration confirmed that it has contacted a UN agency, the International Organisation for Migration, seeking assistance on planning emergency accommodation for asylum seekers.

A spokeswoman said: “The Department has made initial contact with IOM to explore possible future options in accommodating those arriving in Ireland seeking International Protection. No firm proposals have yet emerged from this contact, which is one of many options being explored presently.”

Tegwyn Stephenson, who heads up the IOM in Ireland, also confirmed the move.

On Friday, Ministers were yet again privately warned in a memo for Cabinet that the current accommodation programme “will be insufficient in the immediate and the longer term” and that a “different approach will be required to deliver at the scale and speed of demand”. The Cabinet approved a €20 million plan to develop five ‘proof of concept’ larger accommodation centres, with the site for the stalled super prison at Thornton Hall expected to be the first site developed.

A group of civil servants operating in the Department of the Taoiseach is also being given an initial budget of €50 million to develop projects for accommodation – with more funding likely to follow this year and next, as part of a wider shake-up of how the State plans medium-term accommodation options for refugees.

Meanwhile, Ministers were told that a “scoping exercise” is under way on a new migration agency “which will look after the accommodation and integration needs of migration into the future”.

In a statement after Cabinet agreed the measures, the Government said it is “stepping up action to maximise the pace and scale of delivery” of accommodation. However, while senior sources said the new approach was welcome, they warned the situation was still extremely challenging and that numbers arriving seeking protection were still “very big”.

So far, the Government has sourced accommodation for almost 60,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine. There are almost 20,000 people seeking asylum in state-provided or funded accommodation.