State to build new reception centres for asylum seekers in 2024

Ministers will discuss in the new year fresh plans to build a large number of new State-run reception centres for asylum seekers, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has said.

Asked how the Government intends to find new accommodation for asylum seekers this coming year given the current severe shortage, he said: “In the short term additional accommodation by private providers is going to be important. But I’ve made the case that we need to increase the level of State-owned accommodation. We need a system that is designed and equipped to accommodate that many people while their applicants are being processed.”

He said a revised version of a previously published White Paper on direct provision would be brought to Cabinet, most likely in January.

“That is going to set out our approach to providing additional accommodation. Under the original White Paper we were looking at about six reception and integration centres. That paper was based on around 3,500 people coming through the system each year. Obviously, in a system that’s going to have to deal with more people each year, you’re going to need more of those reception and integration centres.”

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He said more than six centres would be built. It is expected that the centres could accommodate between 500 to 750 asylum seekers.

The Department of Integration is forecasting the arrival of between 10,000 and 15,000 asylum seekers in 2024.

Asked about the Government’s plans to abolish direct provision by 2024, Mr O’Gorman said in an interview with The Irish Times that this would now not be possible during the lifetime of the existing Coalition.

“I think everyone accepts that the landscape is entirely changed in terms of what we’re dealing with,” he said.

Tensions in several parts of the State over proposed asylum seeker accommodation has resulted in criminal damage on several occasions in recent months. A fire in Dublin’s south inner city in a building falsely linked to asylum seekers was the work of arsonists, gardaí confirmed on Monday.

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