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Asylum seekers face having to sleep rough on Irish streets after the government in Dublin said it had run out of accommodation for them, a situation humanitarian groups say puts them at risk of anti-immigrant violence.
The government, which had already cautioned that its unlimited compassion for Ukrainian refugees was not matched by its capacity to house them, on Monday said it no longer had space for asylum seekers.
“Despite intensive efforts to source emergency accommodation, the [government] is currently not in a position to furnish accommodation to all [asylum seekers] due to the severe shortage,” said the department of integration in a statement.
Ireland is already accommodating 100,000 people, three-quarters of whom are refugees from Ukraine and the rest asylum seekers from other parts of the world.
Dublin witnessed a night of street clashes between gangs of youths and police last month when far-right agitators urged supporters out on to the streets after a foreign-born man stabbed three children and a crèche worker outside a school.
The rioting came after multiple anti-immigrant incidents in recent months, including the burning of makeshift camps and attacks on asylum centres. Some protests have continued since the riots, with police investigating potential arson at a hotel that was being prepared for asylum seekers.
“We believe that international protection applicants would be targeted if they had to sleep rough,” said Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council. “Given the risk to people on the streets, this is now more important than ever and a matter of basic safety.”
Despite Monday’s announcement, the government has said it will still accommodate women and children. Drop-in services — including hot showers, tents and sleeping bags — will be available to asylum seekers who have nowhere to stay.
Ireland has no far-right political party but anti-immigrant sentiment has soared while the country battles severe housing and infrastructure shortages.
Ireland faces a general election by March 2025 and an Ireland Thinks opinion poll on Sunday put immigration as voters’ third-highest priority, behind Ireland’s housing crisis and the cost-of-living crunch.
That was a nine point rise on the previous month’s poll. The rise of the far right emerged as respondents’ fourth-biggest concern.
Since August, Ireland has experienced one of the highest rises in numbers of Ukrainian refugee arrivals, according to EU data. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has already said “there is a limit on our capacity” to continue offering the current generous level of supports.
Resources for asylum seekers are also under severe strain and in January, the government urged asylum seekers not to travel to Ireland if they were in a safe place, because of a “severe shortage” of accommodation.
The European Migration Network reported last week that asylum applications in Ireland last year jumped 415 per cent to a record 13,651.
In the 10 months to end-October, official data showed 10,386 applied for international protection, down 7 per cent on the same period in 2022.
