EHB spending up to £20,000 a day on emergency housing for asylum-seekers

The Eastern Health Board is spending almost £20,000 a night on emergency accommodation for asylum-seekers in bed-and-breakfasts and budget hostels normally used by tourists.

The use of B&Bs costing £17 - £22 a night has mushroomed to such an extent that there are now six times as many asylum-seekers in B&Bs as there are "indigenous homeless". Refugees now account for more than 60 per cent of those classified as homeless in Dublin.

Groups working with the homeless have criticised the use of B&Bs and budget hostels on such a scale. The president of Focus Point, Sister Stanislaus, said the lack of a co-ordinated response by the authorities has contributed to "unease and prejudice" against refugees.

"The situation could have been managed well if they had implemented the Refugee Act and put in place the resources that are needed," she said.

But thanks to a "crazy fragmentation" of responsibilities between Government Departments and the health boards, it had "fallen into the lap" of community welfare officers in the EHB to deal with the problem, she added.

The EHB said the massive increase in refugees coming to Ireland had placed the emergency housing services stock under extreme pressure. "It has become impossible for us to cope," a spokeswoman said.

A shortage of beds in emergency shelters had forced the board to find short-term accommodation for many asylum-seekers in B&Bs, she said. At present, almost 1,000 refugees are staying in B&Bs or tourist hostels. The number of new cases handled by the EHB's new refugee welfare office in the grounds of St James's Hospital has risen again, to 84 last week. Earlier this year the number of asylum-seekers looking for supplementary welfare was running at about 100 a week, but numbers dropped to about 70 a week last month.

Dublin Corporation does not normally house refugees in its flats blocks. "It's partly the sheer volume of refugees to be dealt with. But in addition, it would be social dynamite to place large numbers of refugees in flats blocks in poor areas," a spokesman said.

Once refugees have established themselves, the EHB encourages them to find their own accommodation. They then qualify for a rent supplement, worth about £34 a week for a single person.

The EHB spokeswoman said regular checks were carried on B&Bs to ensure that they met certain minimum standards. However, no planning permission was needed to set up a B&B.

According to Ms Mary Higgins, of the Homeless Initiative, nothing has been done to provide co-ordinated services for the arriving refugees. "We urgently need to make provision for the future and to accept the fact that asylum-seekers are going to be a feature of life for the foreseeable future."

Ms Higgins said most refugees were managing to find accommodation. The increase in tourism has not been as great as expected, leaving some accommodation available at the lower end of the market. In addition, many landlords see refugees as "less undesirable" than other EHB clients.

However, asylum-seekers tend to stay an average of six weeks in emergency accommodation, much longer than other groups. Ms Higgins said that many of the hostels used to accommodate them were "of questionable quality".

According to the Department of Social Welfare, 2,361 asylum-seekers are currently claiming supplementary welfare allowance, worth £65.40 a week to a single person.

Recipients are paid £40 a week for an adult dependant, and £39.60 for each child. The rent allowance for a family with two children rises to £106.50 a week. Asylum-seekers may also qualify for a number of other once-off payments, such as the special needs allowance and the back-to-school payment. The Department has budgeted for £17£20 million to cover the costs of dealing with refugees this year.