The Taoiseach has said that an investigation is under way to find those behind violence targeting homeless asylum seekers in Dublin at the weekend, so that they may be brought to justice.
Leo Varadkar said he was "shocked and horrified" by the destruction in recent days of a camp in Dublin city centre sheltering people seeking international protection.
There were confrontations between anti-immigration protesters and gardaí after protesters marched to the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin city centre over the weekend.
Since March, a growing number of tents have been pitched outside the office and in surrounding streets.
The protesters shouted at asylum seekers, telling them they were not welcome and there were also confrontations with gardaí, as some pursued a man they objected to.
Mr Varadkar said that the people impacted are human beings, and no one should be treated the way they were during protests.
"I condemn it unreservedly. I know the Garda Commissioner is involved and is carrying out a full investigation to find who is responsible and they are brought to justice so they cannot harm anybody else," he said.
There are currently 520 recently arrived asylum seekers without State-provided accommodation.
The figures, from close of business this evening, were released by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
This is an increase of around 40 from the 480 who remained without State-provided accommodation on Friday evening.
Since 24 January, 1,148 adult asylum seekers were not offered accommodation when they initially presented, due to a nationwide shortage.
628 people have since been offered a space.
Responding to criticism over the lack of accommodation for asylum seekers, the Taoiseach said that the Government has responsibilities and that Minister for Equality and Integration Roderic O'Gorman is working "really hard to try and find shelter and accommodation in the next couple of days".
"We really are doing all we can when it comes to that," he said, adding that in the last year, Ireland has taken in 100,000 people, mainly from Ukraine.
He said that almost all of them were provided with accommodation.
"But it is a refugee crisis on a scale we have never seen in our history and, yes, we are at a point where we are finding it difficult to provide accommodation to everyone who comes here, but we will certainly turn nobody away," Mr Varadkar added.
"We have a legal and moral obligation to provide shelter for people who come here to seek asylum."
'Those people don't speak for our country'
Minister for Justice Simon Harris said that there was an arrest at the weekend, and that he was assured by the Garda Commissioner that there would be a garda presence on Mount Street to provide protection.
He said that there was an active policing plan underway.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, he said there had been 125 anti-immigration protests in Dublin since the start of the year, and he thanked the gardaí for their efforts.
Mr Harris said that the commissioner was satisfied that he had operational integrity to carry out policing plans and that garda numbers would increase this year.
He added that gardaí will respond and uphold the law, but that there were a small number of people who are travelling around the country stoking fear.
The minister said where anybody breaks they law they will be met by the "full rigors of the law" as there was a difference between protest and an attempt to intimidate and endanger life and engage in "thuggery".
"What we saw at the weekend was an attempt by a very small number of people to engage in illegality and thuggery to intimidate and endanger people," he said.
He added that the scenes where someone’s only property in the world was set alight is "not our country and those people don’t speak for our country".
Bed offers for asylum seekers this week
Earlier today, Mr O'Gorman said offers of accommodation will be made to asylum seekers who are sleeping rough this week.
He added that hundreds of beds will come online this week and offers of accommodation will be made to those currently without state-provided accommodation.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he also said that he and Minister for Justice Simon Harris will meet garda management following the incidents over the last few days.
He said the accommodation system is under "real pressure" and Ireland is housing 84,000 people from Ukraine along with international protection applicants.
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Mr O'Gorman said: "Irrespective of how robust the system you have, when you have that kind of increase, you're going to put a strain on it, and we see that same strain on systems across Europe.
"But we have to do better in terms of meeting our obligations to international protection applicants".
He said: "We've a couple of hundred beds coming online across this week. We already had some come online on Friday and again this is going to enable us to ensure that this group of people are safe. That they are accommodated, and we will continue to work for those who we are not in a position to accommodate to provide services to them."
Mr O'Gorman said that the department has been looking at "all options" in terms of bringing additional beds into the system.
He also said that there has been a decrease in the number of international protection applicants arriving since the start of this year and "we continue to look to accommodate people as they arrive".
He added that there was a loss of a "significant number of beds from hotel contractors who weren't looking to contract with us any further".
Mr O'Gorman said he spoke to gardaí about the protests and they did "all they could" in the difficult situation over the weekend.
"Obviously people have the right to disagree with government policy," he said.
"People have the right to protest, but they don't have a right to intimidate people.
"They don't have a right to commit acts of violence and we'll be engaging with the minister on this point."
People are 'terrified' - MASI
Co-ordinator for the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland Lucky Khambule said over the weekend he met some of the men who had been living in the tents outside the International Protection Office.
Speaking on the same programme, he said the men "are terrified" after the protest and the burning of tents, with one man losing all his belongings.
"It's just [an] unfortunate incident that was allowed to happen in this country."
Mr Khambule said there was no "plan" in building a camp around the International Protection Office.
He said: "It's just the unfortunate incident or issue that the international protection men are facing that when they go to the International Protection Office, they are told that, yes, we are accepting your application, but no, we don't have accommodation for you so you can go out and find your way."
He said the Government are "breaching the international laws"
Mr Khambule said: "They know they need to be able to find accommodation for the people as soon as possible to limit the risk of what could happen to the people in line with what we have seen happening now when tents are being burned."
He added: "The minister needs to start acting very, very urgently now, not any other day - now."Last month the High Court declared Mr O'Gorman's failure to provide "material reception conditions" to a recently arrived asylum seeker, who was left homeless, was unlawful and in breach of Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
Govt to consider 'floating accommodation' for asylum seekers
The Government is evaluating the possibility of using "floating accommodation", also known as floatels, to accommodate people seeking asylum in Ireland.
An agency has been "engaging with other jurisdictions" to understand their experiences of the proposal.
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The International Protection Procurement Service is also consulting with domestic stakeholders, such as the Maritime Unit of the Department of Transport.
A statement from the Department of Integration said Ireland is experiencing a "severe accommodation shortage."
It added that it's "working hard on alternative solutions" which will allow it to shelter people in the time ahead - including offers of "floating accommodation".
The statement said that it was "not possible to comment on specific proposals at this point."
The idea of using floatels to accommodate asylum seekers was considered back in 2000 by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition government.
The Cabinet at the time decided against proceeding with the plan, in part due to negative experiences in countries like Denmark which discontinued the practice.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Bay South Jim O'Callaghan said that any form of accommodation is preferable to living in tents.
"Floatels in contrast to that, I would favour them... we have an obligation to provide sheltered accommodation, we cant provide state of the art accommodation for 84,000 people," he said.
He agreed that floatels are not favourable if alternatives are there but "we have to live in the real world".
Gary Gannon, Social Democrat TD for Dublin Central and party spokesperson for Social Protection and Foreign Affairs, said Dublin Port might not be able to cater for floatels and more detail was needed.
People seeking accommodation had complex needs and would be very isolated in floatels, Mr Gannon said.
He added that people cannot be kept long on boats if the Government had "basic decency" and wanted to comply with international obligations.
Additional reporting Paul Cunningham, Laura Fletcher and Cathy Halloran
