Officials from the Department of Children approached the UK Home Office seeking advice following the launch of the controversial asylum seeker barge, the Bibby Stockholm, as preparations for the Irish ‘flotel’ continue.
By Conor O’Carroll
Irish Government officials congratulated their counterparts in the UK Home Office following the launch of the controversial asylum-seeker barge, documents released under Freedom of Information (FOI) show.
The emails, which were released to Village Magazine, show how an official from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth congratulated his peers for the launch of the Bibby Stockholm barge off the coast of Dorset, in southwest England in August 2023.
“Congrats on getting the barge ‘open for business’ – have been watching the various news feeds with interest”, the unnamed official said on 9 August, days after the first asylum seekers had been moved onto the barge.
A few days later, the barge was evacuated following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply, which can cause a serious type of lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease.
Contact was established between the two officials in June this year when the Department of Children official reached out through an unnamed mutual contact to the UK Home Office seeking advice in the contracting of barges for asylum-seeker accommodation.
They stated that the draft request for tender for Ireland’s version of the barges was “well advanced” and that “berths [had] been identified”. The official sought advice on “planning and environmental matters”, suggesting that a call between both government departments would be beneficial.
The Department is seeking tenders to provide floating accommodation for International Protection Applicants (asylum seekers) and not Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (Ukrainians)
However, much of what was discussed between the two officials has been redacted, with the Home Office citing the protection of its commercial interests as the reason for obscuring the information.
In May, Minister Roderic O’Gorman confirmed that his department was planning to tender floating accommodation to help ease pressures on providing accommodation. The formal process was expected to have been launched this summer, however, no tender details have been published as of yet.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children told Village “publication of a tender is not likely in the immediate future with Department officials still working through the various legal and regulatory issues associated with using floating accommodation”.
The Government’s examination of procuring floating accommodation dates back to 2022, when they received a number of proposals from various companies offering cruise ships to house Ukrainian refugees.
Further documents released to Village Magazine under FOI show that an approach by Clare-based company ML Hospitality Ltd in 2022 was initially rejected by the Government due to “the lack of port/berths with sufficient deep water for vessels of this size and as a result potential remoteness and lack of access to services and facilities”.
An internal feasibility study dated May 2022, produced by the Maritime Transport Division at the Department of Transport, concluded that the sole location suitable to accommodate the two vessels offered by ML Hospitality (the Cobh cruise berth) “would create a significant environmental impact and air quality issue for the area” owing to the need for the continual operation of the ship’s engines to power onboard utilities.
Other proposals for cruise ships at Dublin Port were also rejected as it was suggested there would be a negative impact on “overall port capacity and on other port business”.
The same feasibility study also raised the potential solution of a “flotel”, with the Department requesting an unnamed entrepreneur who previously approached the Port of Cork with a proposal to locate a ship as a hotel in the port to explore this option on their behalf. The entrepreneur was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement as the enquiries were made.
The option presented in the study involves “up to three vessels with a capacity of 800 passengers per ship” and suggested that “it may be feasible to berth the vessels in the centre of Cork at the city quays”.
It is unclear whether this is the basis for the forthcoming tender from the Department of Children and a spokesperson did not provide any further details, but did state that the Department is seeking to tender for International Protection Applicants (asylum seekers) and not Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (Ukrainians).
The plan to move asylum seekers onto barges in the UK, such as the Bibby Stockholm, which has a capacity of 506, has proved controversial, with campaign groups and public health officials condemning the plan.
The Guardian newspaper reported that cabins were slightly larger than a prison cell and had been fitted with bunk beds to double capacity. The UK’s Fire Brigade Union has also threatened a legal challenge against the use of the barge over safety fears, calling it “a potential deathtrap”.
Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, voiced objections too, calling it “reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era” and “an utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution”.
The Irish Refugee Council expressed concern at the prospect of floating accommodation being used in Ireland; “We are strongly opposed to floating accommodation. They are wholly inadequate places to house vulnerable men, women and children who have come to our country in search of safety. We are concerned that short-term responses tend to become permanent. Direct Provision was temporary. Tents were meant to stop last autumn. Just because something is better than sleeping rough on a street doesn’t mean that we should accept it”.
“We shouldn’t let standards slip just to warehouse people and we encourage government to invest in sustainable medium- and long-term accommodation options that support people with dignity”, they continued.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children said the contact with the UK Home Office and other “shared experiences will help to establish the most appropriate vessel type for the various factors and considerations, such as berthing, for any ‘floating’ accommodation that the Department publishes a Request for Tenders for”.
