Two thirds of all asylum seekers in Dublin are being housed in the city centre and its immediate surroundings, but less than 5 per cent are located in the affluent Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown borough, new research on the distribution of asylum seekers has found.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern recently expressed concern about the creation of Irish "ghettoes" .
But the research, based on 2002 figures, shows that almost as many asylum seekers reside in the Mountjoy B electoral area - including Mountjoy Square - as in the whole of Dún-Laoghaire-Rathdown.
It was also found that asylum seekers only make up a tiny minority - at 9,195, less than 1 per cent - of Dublin's total population.
But at a time when the recent Paris riots have prompted Mr Ahern to warn that local councils must take great care to avoid the creation of Irish ghettoes, the new figures also raise questions about the criteria used to decide where direct provision (accommodation) centres for asylum seekers should be located in Dublin.
They show that Dublin's north inner city - with a population of 54,000 and representing just 1 per cent of the county's area size - accommodated 27 per cent of all asylum seekers in Dublin in 2002.
This compares with just 4.8 per cent of all Dublin asylum seekers who resided in the 191,000-strong Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, and some 16 per cent who live in South Dublin borough which has a population of 239,000.
Similarly, the Fingal area, which has experienced strong population growth in recent years, had a 2002 population of some 196,000. But it accommodated just 13 per cent of all asylum seekers in 2002.
By comparison, Dublin city north, which includes the north inner city and had a total population of 290,000 in 2002, accommodated the majority of asylum seekers (36.8 per cent).
Nearly 4 per cent of this total were located in the Mountjoy B electoral district alone. Similarly, almost 30 per cent of asylum seekers lived in the Dublin city south region, which had a 2002 population of 239,000.
Darren Kelly of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, who presented the research as part of the college's "Eriugena" lecture series last week, said that while there may be "ethnic clusters" in Dublin, these were not "ghettoes."
But he said there was a "real need" for a co-ordinated approach to planning and spatial strategies in the city and the development of social policy strategies. These should include the views of local people.
"Ethnic clustering does not have to be a negative thing," he said. "There is a difference between New York, which has lots of ethnic clusters and is a cosmopolitan community, and Los Angeles, for example, where people live in a much more physically segregated way.".
The research, which is due to be presented soon as part of a PhD degree programme, is based on health board data for 2002 relating to asylum seekers. This was subsequently broken down by electoral division by the researcher.
It also found that a large number of asylum seekers live in houses and apartments facing the street, near transport corridors, and are highly visible in public spaces because they cannot afford to "hang out" in private spaces such as cinemas. This means the perception that an area has a high number of asylum seekers may not always be accurate, according to Mr Kelly.
It is thought likely that higher property prices and rental rates in wealthier areas of the city influence the distribution of asylum seekers.