Fianna Fáil TD Jim O'Callaghan has written to Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman to find an alternative outdoor location for homeless asylum seekers to stay, other than the informal settlement of tents that has built up around Mount Street in Dublin 2.
In his letter, Mr O'Callaghan also said that "much more needs to be done to reduce the number of people seeking International Protection in Ireland".
In a letter sent on Tuesday, the Dublin Bay South TD said that there were approximately 220 International Protection Applicants living in around 150 tents "in the encampment" which is in his constituency.
Mr O'Callaghan said that there were "significant consequences and dangers" associated with it.
He said there was "no access to adequate hygiene facilities" at the site.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, he said: "In my opinion we can’t allow a situation develop where we have encampments on busy Dublin streets - it's a danger to the people in the tents as we’ve seen from the outbreak of disease down there and it’s also unfair to people who live in the area and work in the area."
Mr O’Callaghan has said encampments should be developed in outdoor areas such as disused barracks or industrial complexes.
"Our obligation is to provide sheltered accommodation, but let’s be clear about it, we’re not able to do that at present, demonstrably. Demonstrably we’re not able to do that when we look at Mount Street."
He called on the "relevant authorities" to "inform the applicants that they are not permitted to camp there" and called on the Minister for Integration to "identify some other outdoor location where tented accommodation and hygiene facilities can be provided to applicants".
Read more: Conditions for IP applicants in city tents deteriorating
"This is going to be an ever-increasing problem unless efforts are also made to try to reduce the number of people seeking international protection in Ireland," Mr O'Callaghan said.
He also called for "checks at airplane doors at Dublin Airport" where "anyone without documents or from a safe country or without an appropriate visa" be "refused disembarkation".
The Dublin Bay South TD also called for more countries to be added to the list of safe countries of origin for the purpose of making a claim for international protection.
In January, Botswana and Algeria were added to the list.
Taoiseach supportive of EPP's asylum deportation proposal
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he supports an approach put forward by the European People's Party (EPP) around deporting asylum seekers to "safe third countries", a move that the Taoiseach said is envisaged in the EU Asylum and Migration Pact, but said that it would have to comply with international conventions.
The proposal, contained in the EPP's manifesto detailing its priorities for the next European parliamentary term ahead of elections in June, has been compared to Britain's Rwanda policy.
Speaking in Washington, the Fine Gael leader said "what we are saying in terms of the EPP policy, we support that approach, but it has to be done in line with the Geneva Conventions and the European Convention on Human Rights".
Fine Gael is a member of the EPP.
However, Mr Varadkar said that "the possibility of processing asylum seekers in third countries" is already in the EU migration and asylum pact.
"It's not an EPP proposal that people would vote for or against in the European elections, it's something that's already envisaged in the EU Asylum and Migration Pact which Ireland has to decide whether we opt into or not," he said.
Mr Varadkar said the EU pact would see it "coming to agreements" with countries on its borders like Turkey "to assist them financially to increase and improve border controls and also to establish centres in transit countries where International Protection Applicants could be processed".
'Difficult situation'
The Taoiseach said there was a "very difficult situation now in Ireland" in relation to International Protection applicants "where we can't guarantee people accommodation if they arrive... yet the numbers are increasing".
Mr Varadkar said that efforts were ongoing to strengthen both Ireland's borders and the EU's borders.
He noted "increasing numbers coming over the border from North to South which is an open border".
However, he said the Government was neither "dissuading or discouraging genuine refugees from coming to Ireland if they need international protection" nor "encouraging people to come to Ireland and claim asylum".
"I think what's very evident to me is that the reason why we are seeing an increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to Ireland and coming to all of Europe and indeed the US, it's not the pull factors it's the push factors," Mr Varadkar said.
Asked about the comments by Mr O’Callaghan, Mr Varadkar said: "If that's what he said then he’s correct. I don't want to see anybody on our streets ... at the moment, we're not in a position to provide shelter to every international protection applicant.
"That's not a desirable situation at all. And Minister O’Gorman's team are working very hard to try and find some form of temporary shelter. So at the very least, we can get people off the streets."
Asked about an audit by the Department of Integration which found there were 500 vacant beds in the system originally provided to Ukrainian refugees, Mr Varadkar said: "I haven't seen that audit, but you'll have known from comments I made a few weeks ago that I raised this concern myself.
"Because members of my parliamentary party were telling me they were getting feedback on the ground that there were vacant units in Ukrainian accommodation.
"So if that has since been done I'm glad that that had been done because that was the kind of feedback I was getting from my TDs on the ground, whereas the department was saying this wasn't the case.
"There can be reasons for vacancy. There could be an accommodation for six people when there are only five in it, or there could be a vacancy when people move. So there's always going to be some level of vacancy, but it should only be temporary," Mr Varadkar added.
Read More: EU reaches agreement on reforming migration laws
There has been a call for the department to publish the audit into vacant beds in the system from Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan.
He told RTÉ’s Drivetime: "We need to have a full explanation from Government as to why those beds have not been used, why people are being forced to pitch up tents on the side of the street when there’s empty beds there.
"Simply washing their hands of this and leaving people to sleep outside on the street without support, without services is unacceptable," he added.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland said the proposals at European level around processing in third countries is "concerning" as the track record is "not a good one."
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Brian Killoran said there was "revulsion" at UK proposals around deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda, which he said "has been bogged down in the courts and legally challenged, and rightly so."
He said the human rights records and standards in third countries to date have been problematic.
"In some ways it has been a politically motivated approach, which sounds good to the public but from a human rights perspective, it is not a good way of processing people in vulnerable situations."
Additional reporting Sean Whelan
