Asylum seekers face heightened risks of destitution due to a shortage of reception places in Ireland. The Department of Justice has confirmed that at least 20 people were told they could not be provided with accommodation in the last two weeks.
The occupancy rate of Direct Provision centres reached close to 100% in the summer of 2018, due to a steady reduction in accommodation places compared to previous years, compounded by lengthy asylum procedures involving an average wait of 19 months for an interview with the International Protection Office (IPO). As a result, the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) has been unable to secure access to accommodation for newly arriving asylum seekers. People turned away by RIA are not provided with any information on alternative accommodation options or homeless shelters.
Prompt provision of accommodation to asylum seekers is an obligation under the recast Reception Conditions Directive, which Ireland recently transposed in its domestic legal order.
For further information:
- Irish Refugee Council, Irish Refugee Council calls for Government to urgently address issue of people seeking asylum being made homeless, 20 September 2018
- AIDA, Country Report Ireland, 2017 Update, March 2018
*This information was first published by AIDA.
This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin . You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.