The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was at the centre of a political row last night over comments he made in Sydney suggesting Ireland might learn from Australia's stringent immigration rules, where illegal immigrants are held in detention centres.
There is mandatory detention for "unlawful non-citizens" under the Migration Act in Australia. Any such person found must go to a detention facility until granted a visa or removed from the country. Refugee and human rights groups reacted with concern and anger to Mr Ahern's suggestion. A spokesman from the UNHCR's Dublin office said the detention of asylum-seekers was "inherently undesirable".
The Irish Refugee Council said it would be "extremely concerned" with any such moves, as this came "dangerously close to criminalising them".
The director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Mr Donncha O'Connell, said the Taoiseach should look for "food for thought" from more progressive jurisdictions such as Canada which operates "a fairer and more inclusive policy".
The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, said the Taoiseach's comments seemed to reflect a new attitude of "austerity" by the Government.
The Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the problem was the Government policy on immigration and the separate issue of asylum-seekers was piecemeal.
The Progressive Democrats, who recently criticised Government asylum policy, would not make any direct response last night
However, a PD spokesman said that in Government they "believed in a tolerant, realistic approach to immigration".
Mr Ahern was speaking following a visit to the Migrant Resource Centre at Campsie on the outskirts of Sydney.
Some 3,600-4,000 illegal immigrants are held in six detention facilities throughout Australia. Two of these were opened last December in response to the latest influx of Iraqi and Afghan "unlawful non-citizens" entering from Indonesia.
Speaking after his visit to the resource and language centre, Mr Ahern said he was anxious to see how the immigration policy was working there since it was said that "this is the best integrated system in the world".
Asked about the "floating hotels" proposal, Mr Ahern said: "With the greatest of respect, the accommodation that we have been providing is very different to the compound here. I think we are in different leagues, but the question is whether we can remain in that league. We have enough accommodation for the summer, but if you follow the system here you see how you could manage the numbers. It is all food for thought."