The 2020 policy envisaged 3,500 applicants a year and predicted own-door accommodation by end of 2024 but Roderic O’Gorman says that is no longer possible
Minister for Children and Equality Roderic O'Gorman said the new White Paper would recognise the very different reality in 2023 compared with when the original policy was published in 2020. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos
Central to that proposal was the construction of six new reception centres for asylum seekers that would house 330 people. The new arrangements would see people moving on from those centres after a short period of time to “own-door accommodation” in buildings owned by the State. However, the implementation of the policy has been overtaken by international events including 90,000 fleeing to Ireland from the war in Ukraine, and also by a fivefold increase in the number of people arriving into Ireland seeking international protection following Covid.
“We are dealing with an utterly unprecedented situation, the largest humanitarian response our nation has ever mounted,” he said. There have been some moves so far to acquire properties to be used as own-door homes for those seeking asylum. To date 37 properties have been bought by the State. Ten of them are in Dublin with five in Cork, five in Wexford, four in Mayo and three in Louth.