New migrant tent encampment springs up on Leeson Street bridge in Dublin

More than 20 tents sheltering homeless asylum seekers have emerged around Leeson Street bridge at the Grand Canal in Dublin.

On Friday morning seven tents were pitched on a patch of grass by Leeson Street bridge, with a further 15 pitched on the footpath outside offices on Fitzwilliam Place.

Volunteers supporting rough-sleeping asylum seekers are concerned at the “inconsistent” approach being taken to such smaller encampments following several high-profile clearances, involving multiple statutory agencies, of hundreds of men and their tents, in recent weeks.

They say about 30 tents were pitched by the canal at Leeson Street earlier on Thursday night but occupants were asked by Gardaí to move late on Thursday night and again at about 4am.

Most of the men, who were told it was for their own safety, moved initially to a space close to a coffee kiosk and then to the two current locations, with some apparently leaving the area.

Volunteer Olivia Headon said gardaí did not take the men’s names or contact a 24-hour number for the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).

This had happened in previous cases in the past week involving between nine and 30 tents at Clyde Road and Herbert Park in Ballsbridge, in Milltown and along the quays in the city centre. In each instance, she said, the men concerned accessed IPAS accommodation following Garda intervention.

These small encampments emerged following the most recent multi-agency clearance of tents from the banks of the Grand Canal at Wilton Place on May 30th when 109 men were offered accommodation. This followed another clearance, also from the Grand Canal banks, on May 21st when 89 men were offered accommodation.

Before that, on May 9th, over 100 men in tents at the Grand Canal were offered accommodation following a multi-agency operation to clear tents. These followed previous clearances of up to 200 tents around the premises of the International Protection Office (IPO) on nearby Mount Street, Lower.

Ms Headon appealed for a consistent approach by gardaí and other agencies in contact with rough-sleeping asylum seekers. She said they should all be referred to IPAS for accommodation.

She said volunteers understood the canal was not a safe place to pitch a tent, given its proximity to water, the lack of sanitation and the likely presence of vermin. “But it is the only place the men could find to pitch their tents after being repeatedly moved from other locations nearby,” she said.

“It is particularly frustrating that there were four gardaí there last night and all of the tents were occupied and some had two or three men in them and they would not take a record of the men rough sleeping together and insisted they should communicate with IPAS directly themselves.”

IPAS does not have a public office and only communicates with the men by email. “Those emails are often not responded to,” said Ms Headon.

A Garda spokesman, asked whether gardaí can refer rough-sleeping asylum seekers to IPAS for accommodation, said: “Queries regarding the accommodating of International Protection Applicants should be directed to IPAS. In keeping with our mission statement of keeping people safe members of An Garda Síochána regularly engage with homeless people and rough sleepers to check on their welfare.”

Dublin Simon, which runs the rough-sleeper outreach team, said it was “standard practice … to contact IPAS when we encounter an asylum sleeper bedding down.

“We cannot help with accommodation if people are already in contact with IPAS and being processed through the IPAS system,” a spokeswoman added.

The Department of Integration has been asked for a comment.

On Friday morning steel barriers, similar to those erected along stretches of the canal from where tents had previously been cleared to prevent further tents being pitched, were being erected at the point where the most recent camp was briefly pitched.