Over 300 people seeking international protection (IP) are to be accommodated at a former office block in Galway.
The asylum seekers will be housed at a property at Ballybrit Business Park, which is being repurposed for accommodation, in advance of their arrival.
In a briefing note for public representatives in the area, the Department of Integration said the building will have capacity for 302 people in a total of 62 rooms.
A two-year contract to use the building, for "temporary emergency accommodation" purposes, is being agreed with the owner.
The asylum seekers will be housed in 42 rooms in one building, with a further 20 rooms in an adjoining block.
The department said that the site will be staffed 24 hours a day and that male international protection applicants will be put up there.
Each resident will have a lockable shared bedroom, access to a common room and front door keys, allowing round the clock entry to the property.
The decision to use the site in question has been prompted by an overall shortage of accommodation, combined with what the department terms "the unprecedented numbers of people" seeking asylum.
The briefing note says the emergency nature of the response required means that advance communications are not as comprehensive or as early as would be desired.
But it points out that State agencies, Galway City Council and public representatives have been made aware of the plans.
Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman said that he notified local TDs and senators yesterday and that he was engaging with Galway City Council and NGOs to let them know about the opening of the centre.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said: "We've begun this process of the provision of information, and we've always said it's the provision of information - and we've done a detailed briefing in terms of what's planned for this particular location, and if more questions come up, we can obviously respond to them in detail as well."
The owner of the building has provided other properties to the Department's International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) division. These are located in the Dublin area.
The correspondence says residents will be provided with an allowance of €38.80 per week.
Citing the scale of the challenge faced by the State, the document provides figures, correct as of 4 May, showing that 3,242 people have arrived in Ireland to seek refuge, since the start of the year.
It follows the arrival of a further 15,014 IP applicants in 2022, along with a total of 72,830 who travelled here last year, as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.
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145 emergency accommodation centres open
Mr O'Gorman told the Dáil that 145 new emergency accommodation centres have opened since January 2022, including 45 this year.
He also said that despite the loss of 2,500 hospitality beds this year, almost 6,000 "bed spaces" have been procured in 2023 for international protection applicants.
The Minister was speaking during a Dáil debate on the refugee accommodation crisis.
Minister for Justice Simon Harris defended the system for evaluating asylum applications saying that there would be significantly improved decision-making times.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she welcomed the condemnation of the far right and she said barricades and blockades are wrong especially when it involves vulnerable people.
But she urged the Government to "talk to people" and she said there was no acknowledgment from ministers of the things they got wrong.
She said there was a real human need for communication and consultation - not vetoes - but a need to demonstrate respect.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government was going to "beef up" its communication teams to improve information in relation to accommodating international protection applicants.
In the Dáil he said "information and communications are important".
The Taoiseach said in the past year almost 100,000 had sought international protection and almost all had been provided with food, accommodation, access to education and sometimes employment.
There are now 199 recently arrived asylum seekers without any State-provided accommodation.
Seventy-one who had no accommodation were offered a place today.
Eleven more new arrivals were not offered any accommodation when they presented at the International Protection Office today.
Taoiseach condemns alleged assault on Clare man
Mr Varadkar said he wanted to condemn the alleged assault on a man in Co Clare the other day and added that the gardaí would want to interview him.
He was responding to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns who said that in the absence of information from the Government there was a "void" and "this is filled with miscommunication with horrific effects".
"Engaging in racism is not a legitimate form of protest," she said.
Mr O'Gorman said his department does not have plans to set up accommodation for refugees and/or international protection applicants at Corofin, Co Clare, where there have been protests.
He said the protests were "entirely as the result of misinformation that's been circulated on social media, detailed misinformation, setting out indicative numbers, indicative genders.
"We are not using the site that has been identified in Corofin, it's never been offered to us and I suppose I can't be clearer than that."
Mr Harris said that the Government is "duty bound" to provide shelter to asylum seekers arriving in Ireland.
Asked about the plan to accommodate 300 international protection applicants in Ballybrit in Galway, he said the Government will continue to engage with local communities and provide them with information, but nobody has a veto.
He also said that the overall trend in numbers of IP applicants remains downward.
Additional reporting: Sandra Hurley, David Murphy, Laura Fletcher
