A plan to make a freephone number available to international protection applicants in need of accommodation over Christmas did not go ahead, RTÉ News understands.
However, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth has said arrangements are in place to find accommodation for international protection applicants, unable to access accommodation in the Citywest transit hub over Christmas.
RTÉ News saw a copy of a poster shared with stakeholders which advised international protection applicants "urgently" in need of accommodation over the Christmas period to contact an out of hours freephone number.
The number was included in a poster that detailed the Christmas opening times of the International Protection Office (IPO).
The freephone number was operational on Thursday and offered callers an option to be put through to an "asylum seekers unit."
However, the poster that has since been posted on the door of the IPO does not include the number, and the number no longer offers an "asylum seekers unit" option.
A spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth confirmed it was unaware of any plan to offer a freephone number to international protection applicants, and that the operation of the International Protection Office was a matter for the Department of Justice.
While a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that "the provision of accommodation for international protection applicants in need of accommodation is the responsibility of IPAS, which is under the remit of the Department of Children.
"The IPO has displayed contact details for IPAS as provided by the Department of Children," the spokesperson said.
While no freephone number is now in place a spokesperson the Department of Children re-iterated that newly arrived international protection applicants "will be assigned to designated accommodation" via "the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) duty phone" which they said "would be available on a 24/7 basis throughout the holiday period."
However, the spokesperson clarified that the duty phone number is made not directly available to international protection applicants.
Instead, they said that "any international protection applicant seeking accommodation should contact the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), which will contact IPAS for accommodation for them once an initial application for international protection has been made."
The Citywest transit hub has paused access to new arrivals over the Christmas period.
This also impacts Ukrainian refugees, however different arrangements are in place for the two groups.
Newly arrived Ukrainian refugees will go directly to designated temporary accommodation centres, while international protection applicants are advised to seek accommodation via the GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau) who will contact the IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Service) out of hours service.
