By Conor O’Carroll
An Oireachtas committee has warned the government that the use of ships for accommodation of refugees and asylum seekers must be avoided over potential health and safety concerns and human rights violations.
The Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth published its Report on Refugees and Integration yesterday, outlining a number of recommendations for the government.
Among the recommendations was an unambiguous rejection of the government proposal to house refugees and asylum seekers on cruise ships or barges, similar to a plan enacted by the UK Home Office.
“The use of ships to house people must be avoided”, the report warns, stating that their use “has been widely contested internationally due to both health and safety concerns and human rights violations”.
The report notes that the proposal remains months away from coming into operation, but also states that it is a “serious strand” for the Department of Children and is continuing to work on finalising berths and issuing the request for tender.
The report also calls on people not to take their “grievances” with the provision of housing, health, transport and education services out on those coming to Ireland
Village reported last month that officials from the Department of Children had sought advice from the UK Home Office over the operation of the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge.
As part of the emails released to Village, Department of Children officials told their Home Office counterparts that the draft request for tender for Ireland’s version of the barges was “well advanced” and that “berths [had] been identified”. The official also sought advice on “planning and environmental matters”, suggesting that a call between both government departments would be beneficial.
They also congratulated the Home Office on the launch of the barge days before it was evacuated following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply.
Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman TD is quoted in the report as saying: “It’s not an easy solution but because of the pressure on accommodation right now, we have to look at all potential avenues of accommodation and floating accommodation continues to be one that we’re looking at”.
Department officials also planned to visit Edinburgh this summer, where the cruise ship MS Victoria housed over a thousand Ukrainian refugees before being moved to alternative accommodation when the Scottish government ended the charter of the ship.
Another ship, the MS Ambition, housed 1,200 Ukranians and was docked in Glasgow before it too was returned when the government’s contract ended earlier this year.
The Department’s visit didn’t proceed, however, due to a lack of staff available to attend the trip.
Last month, the Department confirmed to Village that it is seeking to tender floating accommodation for International Protection Applicants (asylum seekers) and not Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (Ukrainians).
Earlier this week, the Irish Examiner reported that asylum seekers arriving in the country may end up sleeping on the street with the government on the brink of running out of accommodation.
They cited government sources with “serious concerns” for the safety of these people, particularly in the wake of the riots in Dublin that were stoked by far-right, anti-immigrant factions.
The Joint Committee report is equally firm on refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in tents or finding themselves homeless. “We find ourselves in a situation where some people seeking protection in Ireland are being housed in tents or left to sleep in the street”, it states, before calling for the “normalisation” of sleeping in tents to end.
Almost one hundred recommendations were given in the report, across a range of areas and themes relating to refugees.
Some of these included the strengthening and enforcement of media rules and regulations to counter disinformation, the establishment of anti-racism initiatives in all schools and the allocation of additional resources to Tusla to adequately respond to young people in need of protection.
Among the recommendations was an unambiguous rejection of the government proposal to house refugees and asylum seekers on cruise ships or barges, similar to a plan enacted by the UK Home Office
The report also calls on people not to take their “grievances” with the provision of housing, health, transport and education services out on those coming to Ireland. “They are not responsible for those problems”, it says.
It also states that Ireland has a “moral and legal obligation to offer protection to people seeking it”, while noting that “emigration has been a lifeline for Ireland at times” in the past and that many people still leave for the likes of America, the UK and Australia in search of better life opportunities.
Village has contacted the Department of Children for a response to the report and its recommendations.
