A proposal to house up to 400 asylum-seekers on an unserviced nine-acre site north of Finglas in Dublin is "a recipe for disaster", according to some public representatives for the area.
Fingal County Council management wrote to councillors this week informing them that the Department of Justice proposed to erect a refugee centre at Balseskin, east of the N2 and a few miles west of Dublin Airport. It is believed the centre will be a holding facility for asylum-seekers arriving in Ireland.
Senior sources in the council indicated the council had just two weeks ago received correspondence from the Office of Public Works, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice and Law Reform, indicating a proposal to build the facility on the privately owned site.
The Government placed press advertisements about eight months ago seeking a "managed solution" to accommodate asylum-seekers on a site within a 10-mile radius of Dublin Airport. Those tendering for the contract were expected to provide the site and also build and manage the accommodation, according to the OPW.
The number applying for asylum in the State is just over 700 a month. A total of 10,938 people applied last year.
Planning permission is not required for the Balseskin facility as the Department has invoked "emergency powers" to override the usual planning process, the Fingal county manager, Mr William Soffe, told councillors in a letter this week.
A senior source in the council said the local authority had expressed its reservations at the proposal, which, it is understood, may have implications for a land-use study commissioned by Fingal County Council for the rural areas adjacent to the airport.
The accommodation will consist of four two-storey portable buildings, built around a square. Planners are understood to be particularly concerned about the lack of a water supply and sewage disposal facilities.
Two of the five councillors representing the Swords ward, which incorporates the proposed facility, said it would be a "recipe for disaster" if it went ahead without the requisite educational, recreational and medical facilities.
One said she was "alarmed", given that the council planned to grow some of the rural villages in the area by no more than about 30 families a year.
A spokeswoman for the OPW said it was policy not to comment on such matters until contracts had been signed. The Department of Justice indicated, however, that agreement was close for an asylum-seekers' facility, but could not confirm the location.