Irish police clear migrants from campsite in Dublin

Around 200 asylum seekers were moved from their camp outside a government office to a site miles from the city

Irish police cleared hundreds of migrants from a makeshift campsite in central Dublin on Sunday.
Around 200 asylum seekers were moved from their camp outside a government office to another tent site in the Dublin mountains, according to local media reports.
The people had been camping outside the International Protection Office on Mount Street for months, awaiting their applications for international protection to be processed.
On Saturday morning, buses came and took them to Saggart, about 10 miles away, where they were given tents to pitch, the Irish Mirror reported.
The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar told RTE News the migrants had been moved for “health and safety reasons”.
The new site in Crooksling in south-west County Dublin, he said, is cleaner than the original site and has showers, which the original site lacked.
The original site had come under criticism for becoming squalid, with rubbish strewn around.
Reports had described an overwhelming stench of urine and excrement upon approaching it and men being forced to wash in the street.
The Irish Refugee Council welcomed the move but said it hoped the people had been taken to “appropriate accommodation where they can recuperate”.
Others, however, dismissed the move as a cynical ploy to scrub away the blight ahead of St Patrick’s Day and simply move them from one tent site to another.
“Men being moved from one tent to another… just this time, it’s in the country and away from Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade,” said Jennifer Whitmore, of the Social Democrats.
A statement from the Department of Integration said: “This morning, the department has offered alternative shelter to all international protection applicants camped on Mount Street.
“All those who accepted the offer will be provided tented accommodation at a site in Crooksling, where food, personal toiletries, toilet and shower facilities are also available.
“The department will engage with the HSE and health care providers in order to ensure the wellbeing of those on site.”
Migration has become a thorny issue in Ireland with anti-immigration sentiment rising to the fore.
The Gardai has previously expressed concerns over arson attacks on properties due to house asylum seekers.
A former nursing home in Crooksling that was intended to be converted to house migrants went up in flames last month.