Asylum-seekers living in full-board accommodation outside Dublin are effectively being held in detention, the Anti-Racism Campaign has said.
The organisation said asylum-seekers dispersed around the State are prevented from exercising any free choice over where they live, and risk losing State benefits if they return to Dublin.
Some 880 asylum-seekers have been dispersed under the Government's compulsory programme, and 604 are living in fullboard accommodation paid for directly by the State.
Under this form of "direct provision", each adult receives £15 comfort money per week instead of the full social welfare payments of £72 a week.
The mandatory dispersal of newly arrived asylum-seekers to rural areas began late last year in response to severe accommodation shortages in Dublin.
Asylum-seekers who voluntarily leave their full-board accommodation outside Dublin to try to rent a private flat or house are likely to forfeit their right to claim rent supplement.
They may also lose their entitlement to full supplementary welfare allowance on the grounds that they had deprived themselves of the meals, heating and other services provided in the full-board accommodation.
Mr Pat Guerin, a spokesman for the Anti-Racism Campaign, said "asylum-seekers sent to remoter parts of Ireland would find themselves in B&B or hostel accommodation which would in effect become a detention centre, because if they are living on £15 per week to cover all their needs apart from bed and board, the chances of them travelling to anywhere else are effectively denied."
Mr Guerin was speaking yesterday at a press conference on asylum policy organised by the Anti-Racism Campaign to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. He said Irish immigration policy was "slavishly following the UK in an ever-downward spiral of draconian measures".
The director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties Mr Donncha O'Connell, said Ireland may be in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by denying freedom of movement to asylum-seekers whose social welfare entitlement was dependent on them staying in a particular location.
Mr O'Connell said questions should be asked about reception centres, now that the Government appeared to have decided they were the best option for housing asylum-seekers.
He also queried how such facilities could be put in place immediately without compromising basic standards of health and safety.
Mr Peter O'Mahony from the Irish Refugee Council said it was "extremely concerned" at the number of hostile practices and proposals towards asylum-seekers and called for positive leadership.
Meanwhile, academics and refugee representatives took part in a special radio broadcast yesterday to call for an amnesty for all the asylum-seekers in the State (about 10,000)
The one-hour programme on Near FM, was organised by the Association of Nigerian Refugees and Asylum-Seekers and hosted by Ms Ronit Lentin, a Trinity College lecturer in ethnic studies.
One of the guests, Dr Bryan Fanning from UCD, called the dispersal policy "a perfect example of Irish ad-hocery".
Dr Fanning, who has co-authored a report on regional reception of asylum-seekers, said people had been dispersed to rural communities without prop er planning, support structures or preparation of host communities.
Refugee support groups around the State were "struggling to come to grips with this and they just haven't got the infrastructure", he said.