A meeting is taking place in Kilmaley, Co Clare tonight by members of the community in nearby Inch, who have been opposing the housing of 29 male asylum seekers in a local hotel.
Protesters erected roadblocks at two points on the access road to the hotel.
They have been seeking the views of as many people as possible since last Thursday night when the Minister of State for Integration Joe O'Brien visited the facility and asked them to end their protests.
He also committed to no new arrivals being housed at the Magowna hotel for the next four weeks and said he would consult again with the local community after this period of time had passed.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said this commitment should be enough to end the blockade.
The roadblocks continued today.
Separately, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly urged people to be compassionate, welcoming and respectful towards those coming into the country.
Stephen Donnelly acknowledged that are pressures and problems with so many people arriving, but he said people just need to remember where others were coming from.
He said people do have the right to protest in a democracy.
"We have been welcomed all over the world for a very long time. We are one of the wealthiest, most progressive, advanced countries on earth. We have responsibilities, but we also have an innate decency. People are very welcome in our country."
The minister added that the healthcare system was very reliant on workers from other countries and said that Ireland is lucky to have them.
Mr Donnelly was speaking at a Fianna Fáil healthcare conference in Dublin.
Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall the Government needs to ensure there is a plan for accommodating and integrating asylum seekers and refugees and said the Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman has been left on his own in relation to the issue.
Speaking on RTÉ's Saturday with Áine Kerr, Ms Shortall said no community can veto people coming in, but many communities will welcome them when they know what the plan is and that there will be support services in place.
Last night, the Tánaiste has said that the Government should engage with local communities where asylum seekers will be housed.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Micheál Martin said dialogue with communities can ease any fears they may have.
He said there is a proven way of working with communities to solve issues and it was time for the Government to begin that process.
"I think we can do better on the communications side of that. I have to be straight up, reflecting on that. It's not easy, because sometimes there may be a fear that if people get alerted early there will be protests.
"I think we have to engage now and talk to people, because these protests have happened before and over time people have become okay with given situations that have occurred in the past with other centres."
His comments come as Government officials said yesterday that 220 recently arrived asylum seekers were offered State-provided accommodation.
The number of those currently without accommodation stands at 300.
Additional reporting Sandra Hurley
