Prefabricated buildings in Newfoundland have been inspected by Government officials sourcing accommodation for asylum-seekers.
The buildings, which are used to house workers in the Canadian province, are the same as those proposed by a businessman who wants to ship the accommodation to the State.
The visit to Newfoundland was made in recent weeks by officials from the Department of Justice and the Office of Public Works, which is charged with finding accommodation for asylum-seekers. An OPW official stressed that no commitment had been made to the businessman. "We had a proposal that involved them coming over to Ireland and so we went to look at them. It's a turnkey operation with a man with land in Ireland and buildings in Canada who wants to ship them over here," he said.
The Government is committed to providing accommodation for 12,000 asylum-seekers in the coming years. It anticipates it will need 8,000 short-to-medium term places this year.
The junior minister responsible for the OPW, Mr Martin Cullen, has said sheltering the new arrivals will cost £113.4 million this year. He told a Dail committee in June that £60 million would be spent on purchasing properties and sites for conversion or development.
As the first phase in the accommodation initiative, mobile homes to accommodate up to 1,000 asylum-seekers have been completed on three State-owned sites in Kildare, Tralee, Co Kerry, and Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Asylum-seekers sent to these sites will have meals and other services provided, with "comfort money" payments of £15 a week to each adult and £7.50 a child.
OPW officials are also preparing to seek tenders for prefabricated or system-built accommodation which will house 4,000 asylum-seekers. The OPW official said it was hoped some of the accommodation would be completed before the end of the year. The buildings visited in Newfoundland are part of this batch of short-to-medium term accommodation.
The Government also intends to construct permanent accommodation for a further 4,000 asylum-seekers. This will be built on a public-private partnership basis. The properties will be designed, built and operated on behalf of the Government by private companies. The OPW official said no sites had been agreed yet.
The use of the controversial floating hostels or "flotels" for a further 1,000 asylum-seekers has not been formally dropped, despite strong objections from port authorities.