Services for asylum seekers are again curbed at centre

Services for asylum-seekers were curtailed for a fourth day running at the Refugee Application Centre in Dublin yesterday.

Although the centre opened on time and provided full legal and welfare services in the early morning, staff subsequently gave priority to first-time asylum applicants over those who had attended with welfare queries.

A spokeswoman for the Eastern Health Board said services were curtailed because of "the large number of asylum-seekers who arrived at the unit".

This follows the disruption to services at the centre on Tuesday and Wednesday, when community welfare officers and porters employed by the EHB withdrew their services amid concerns about safety at the unit due to the escalating numbers of people queuing to get in.

They agreed to resume normal services following commitments from the board to provide 10 extra welfare officers, three extra porters and to source additional building space for the centre's work.

The Eastern Health Board hopes to provide full services at the centre from this morning.

About 50 people were already queueing outside the centre by 6.30 a.m. yesterday. By 9 a.m. when it opened there were about 150 people waiting to gain entry. Most of those with welfare queries were turned away.

The dispersal of asylum-seekers in accommodation throughout the State raised questions as to how this was to be done in practice, the Catholic Bishops' Refugee Project (CBRP) said yesterday .

In a letter to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, the CBRP acknowledged that the dispersal policy could ensure a more equitable country-wide sharing of responsibility for asylum-seekers.

The CBRP stressed that it was important to ensure that host communities were encouraged to participate actively in receiving asylum-seekers. Adequate criteria should be followed in assigning asylum-seekers to particular areas. Comprehensive and appropriate services should be in place to meet specific needs for the asylum-seekers.

The letter also asked what criteria was being used to select particular areas of the country for asylum-seekers. What measures would be taken to ensure that family members were kept together, among other questions.

Meanwhile, a man is to appear in Dublin District Court this morning following an alleged assault at the centre yesterday afternoon.