Vol. 519 No. 1
149 Mr. Power asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the areas selected to house asylum seekers; the numbers of asylum seekers who will be accommodated in each area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13167/00]
The Directorate for Asylum Support Services was established in November 1999 under the aegis of my Department to co-ordinate the sourcing of suitable accommodation for asylum seekers and their resettlement at locations throughout the country. Prior to this, most asylum seekers had been accommodated in Dublin. However, due to the acute shortage of accommodation in the capital, the Government decided that newly arrived asylum seekers should be dispersed throughout the country. Advertisements were placed in the media inviting offers of suitable accommodation.
Arising from these advertisements, the directorate has entered into contractual agreements for the provision of accommodation in various hotels, guest houses and hostels around the country and assessment of the suitability of offers is ongoing. The Office of Public Works has also purchased and leased certain properties on behalf of the directorate for the provision of full-board accommodation to asylum seekers and has identified a number of public sector sites suitable for development under the accommodation programme for asylum seekers. In addition, the directorate has recently placed advertisements seeking offers of suitable sites in the private sector. In the longer term, my aim is to achieve a fair and balanced distribution of asylum seekers throughout the country and to resettle asylum seekers having regard to the size of local communities.
As indicated above, the directorate is still assessing the potential of accommodation offers and sites around the country. In line with normal practice, I do not propose to release details of these until such time as the arrangements in relation to them have been agreed, the relevant formalities concluded and local communities have been informed. The table below gives a breakdown of the counties outside Dublin to which asylum seekers have been dispersed to date, the number of accommodation centres in each county and their total capacity.
|
Clare (1 centre) |
80 persons |
|
Cork (5 centres) |
372 persons |
|
Donegal (3 centres) |
107 persons |
|
Galway (5 centres) |
201 persons |
|
Kerry (8 centres) |
394 persons |
|
Kilkenny (1 centre) |
80 persons |
|
Longford (1 centre) |
20 persons |
|
Mayo (1 centre) |
34 persons |
|
Monaghan (1 centre) |
45 persons |
|
Offaly (2 centres) |
87 persons |
|
Sligo (1 centre) |
18 persons |
|
Tipperary (1 centre) |
20 persons |
|
Waterford (1 centre) |
20 persons |
|
Wicklow (2 centres) |
59 persons |
