Asylum seeker tents cleared from Grand Canal

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

A makeshift migrant encampment has been cleared from the Grand Canal following a multi-agency operation.

More than 100 tents had been erected along the waterway as the Government continues to fail to provide accommodation to all male asylum seekers.

By shortly after 8am almost all the tents had been removed using a truck with a crane arm.

The asylum seekers who had been living in the makeshift encampment were bussed away from the area.

Fences have now been erected around the stretch of the Grand Canal where the tents had been pitched.

The Grand Canal encampment emerged shortly after more than 200 asylum seekers were cleared from a similar makeshift camp at the nearby International Protection Office on Mount Street last week.

The Government said Thursday morning’s operation involves the gardaí, Dublin City Council, the HSE, the Department of Integration and a waterway authority.

A statement from the Government said: “The purpose of the operation is to ensure the safe movement of people seeking international protection from the tents on the Grand Canal to International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS)-designated accommodation.

“The IPAS-designated accommodation has toilets and showers; health services; indoor areas where food is provided; facilities to charge phones and personal devices; access to transport to and from Dublin City Centre; and 24-hour onsite security.

"Some 163 individuals have now been safely moved to Crooksling and the former Central Mental Hospital (CMH) in Dundrum (148 individuals were moved to Crooksling; 15 individuals were moved to Dundrum).

"Both sites have robust, weather-proof tents. They have toilets and showers; health services; indoor areas where food is provided; facilities to charge phones and personal devices; access to transport to and from Dublin City Centre; and 24-hour onsite security.

"While accommodated at the sites in Crooksling and Dundrum, residents will receive the same supports as at other IPAS locations. This includes access to medical care via the HSE social inclusion outreach teams and medical card provision; IPAS customer services team clinics; onsite support from the provider’s staff; and psycho-social and integration support from NGO partners."

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said the similar operation last week had a “very positive impact” and averted a “public health near-emergency”.

He said: “I continue to believe that it was the right action to take. I became Taoiseach four weeks ago, I took charge of this situation.

“There had been, in my view, a tacit acceptance by many State agencies that the situation on Mount Street could just continue and was just the new norm. That was not right.”

He added: “We will deal with the Grand Canal. Action will be taken.”