A coalition of groups that organised a demonstration last month against fencing along Dublin's Grand Canal has reiterated calls for Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland to remove the barriers.
The Take Back Our Spaces Coalition has written to Waterways Ireland, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman and Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien regarding what it has described as "anti-social management of canals", and "inhumane treatment" of people who are homeless.
The group which includes Dublin branches of the Communities Action Tenants Union (CATU), People Before Profit Dublin, Social Rights Ireland, Queer Intifada, Fronta Nua, and UCD BDS say the demands that they made at last month’s protest "were to be met" by the end of July.
"Today these demands remain unaddressed and so the coalition will continue to mobilise and escalate with direct action," according to the correspondence.
The group says the actions of Waterways Ireland disproportionately affects vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers, the homeless population, and working-class people.
The erection of the barriers has turned the spaces into sites of exclusion and hostility, according to the letter.
It added that the estimated €30,000 per week that is being spent on the barriers, could instead be used to address the housing crisis.
Around 200 protesters gathered in Portobello calling for Waterways Ireland to remove fencing which has been erected to stop people from pitching tents along the Grand Canal.
One man, aged in his 20s, was arrested in connection with the incident but was later released without charge.
A total of 2,391 people seeking international protection accommodation in Ireland are currently without accommodation due to what the Department of Integration has described as a severe shortage of accommodation.
Last week, the High Court found that the State response to the needs of international protection applicants is in breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
