Leitrim, although the most under-populated county in the State, has been unable to accommodate any asylum-seekers to date.
Sligo has found room for fewer than 20, all of whom are in one B&B on the outskirts of the town.
In Donegal, about 40 people have been accommodated, in a small hotel in Bunbeg and a private house in Falcarragh.
Three other locations are now being looked at in Letterkenny, Moville and Greencastle where some 100 people could be placed.
Mr Seamus Beirne, who is liaison officer for asylum-seekers with the North Western Health Board, says these low numbers are either due to places not being offered in the first place or to the local authorities not approving those that were offered.
All responses to advertisements placed in national and local media looking for accommodation were sent back to the local authorities so they could be vetted.
It is only after the county councils approve the properties that the health board gets involved.
Because of the system chosen to find accommodation, where the process was initiated by hotel and B&B owners, those in bigger towns with a year-round trade might have been less likely to offer places.
The decision to place people only on a full-board basis was one taken by the Government.
Mr Beirne says that while Bunbeg might be seen as isolated, at least all the basic services are within walking distance of the hotel.
An offer of accommodation in a rural area three miles from Glencolmcille, approved by Donegal County Council, was turned down by the health board as it was too far from schools and shops, he says.
English classes are to start in Bunbeg from Monday and in Falcarragh after Easter. They have already started in Sligo.
"From the feedback we are getting, the classes then become a focal point of the day.
"They bring people together and let them hear one another's stories," he says.
A community welfare officer visits the asylum-seekers once a week.
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