Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman has said "intense work" had been going on in recent days among Government agencies to ensure the site at Mount Street in Dublin "could be cleared and the people there given shelter".
He said all of the more than 200 asylum seekers in the encampment accepted the "offer" to move to the "state reception centre" at Citywest, or to Crooksling - also in southwest Dublin.
He said the street was "subsequently cleared by Dublin City Council and all of this was done with the support of the gardaí".
Minister O'Gorman said the situation at Mount Street had been "extremely difficult" for the IP applicants themselves, local residents and businesses on the street.
It was because of "additional accommodation that opened up over the last number of days" that his Department was in a position to move those who had been sleeping rough there, he said.
Minister O'Gorman said the accommodation at Crooksling is in military-style eight-person tents, and is not the same as the "much smaller, much more basic accommodation" that was used for asylum seekers who were moved there on St Patrick's weekend.
He said meals, showers and toilets are provided there and that it is "immediately adjacent" to a Dublin Bus route to and from the city centre.
Mr O'Gorman said State accommodation for international protection applicants is not "mandatory" and that "people have the option to not take it up".
He said the "system is under real pressure right now " and his department was not able to give people "the choice of where they're accommodated" and that everyone at Mount Street "have been given an offer of accommodation".
The minister said his department's strategy was to move away from relying on commercial providers to house refugees and asylum seekers and to provide "a core of 14,000 state-owned beds going forward so the State has much more control over the location and the costs of international protection."
He said two such sites had been brought online in the last number of weeks - Crooksling and Trudder in Co Wicklow.
He confirmed that a number of International Protection Applicants were now accommodated at the site in Trudder House.
The minister said people were entitled to protest in disagreement with Government policy but "that has to be done within the law" and a number of protesters recently at the Trudder location in Newtownmountkennedy "stepped well beyond the law in terms of their attacks on An Garda Síochána."
Minister O'Gorman, said his Department would be "engaging with the HSE and other state agencies" to bring additional sites.
'Significant decrease' in Ukrainian arrivals
The Minister also said the new 90-day rule for Ukrainian refugees that took effect in March has resulted in a "very significant decrease" in the number of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland.
He said the figure has reduced to some 450 people in the new system compared with "much higher" numbers late last year.
He said Ukrainians have been leaving state-provided accommodation in "sizeable numbers" recently, with some entering the "private sector", some returning to Ukraine, and some going to other countries.
Mr O'Gorman said his Department is currently looking at whether beds previously used by Ukrainians can be freed up to accommodate IP applicants, with the agreement of providers.
He said there are already examples in which this has happened and there is a "gradual but noticeable decrease in the overall number of Ukrainians that the state is providing accommodation to".
He said this is also enabling some hotels and guesthouses to return to tourism and "other uses".
The Minister confirmed that the Government has "put out an official expression of interest this week" seeking to buy accommodation from the private sector and there has been "communication from private sector interests" looking to sell accommodation.
Conditions on Mount Street were 'unacceptable'
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said it was "not acceptable" for migrants or residents that there were tents on Mount Street in Dublin.
Mr Martin said the objective was to provide tented accommodation in Crooksling, which would have access to transport and facilities.
"The facilities there are far better, the conditions in Mount Street are unacceptable," he said, adding that there would also be social supports available to migrants.
Mr Martin downplayed the effect that the threat of deportation to Rwanda from the UK was having on the number of migrants coming to Ireland.
He said that Brexit was intended to result in fewer migrants travelling to Britain but the numbers had "gone up".
On the issue of migrants travelling to the Republic from Northern Ireland, he said there had been an increase in presentations.
"Department of Justice officials are saying the majority are coming over the border. Over time that can work both ways," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the dismantling of the encampment had been "long overdue."
She said the situation was an "outrage from every perspective," and how it had been allowed to continue for so long "begs questions of the Government's approach to the whole immigration issue."
She added that she sensed "nobody competent is in charge of this area of policy."
Ms McDonald said she welcomed the fact the asylum seekers have been relocated and the tents removed, and the Government's pledge that the encampment will not be repeated has to be "honoured."
'Humanitarian operation' on Mount Street - Harris
Earlier, the Taoiseach thanked the multiple State agencies involved in what he described as this morning's "humanitarian operation" on Mount Street.
"The situation had become completely unacceptable," Simon Harris said.
"The International Protection applicants have been taken to safe shelter with appropriate sanitary facilities, hot food, a clean place to eat, access to medical help and a bus link to Dublin city centre.
"The laws of our land must always be upheld and we cannot have unsafe and illegal encampments in our cities or towns," he said.
Move to alternative sites 'infinitely preferable'
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the situation on Mount Street had become inhumane, unsustainable and deeply unhealthy for those living there.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Ms Bacik said local residents and traders had been "deeply sympathetic" to the plight of those living in the tents, but were also frustrated by the Government's "apparent" inability to provide them with accommodation.
She welcomed the move to alternative sites at Citywest and Crooksling, which she said would be "infinitely preferable" to the conditions on Mount Street.
"It is very, very regrettable to see that some of the accommodation the men are being provided with will be tented - I understand Citywest is not tented," she said.
"We will certainly be pressing the Government to ensure that accommodation provided is appropriate."
Ms Bacik called for a "whole of Government approach led by the Taoiseach" on the matter and said there was as yet no detail on where it is proposed to accommodate further asylum seeker arrivals into the country.
'Very challenging situation'
Minister For Trade, Enterprise and Employment Peter Burke said people were being moved to facilities where they will have "all the wrap-around services".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Burke said some of the people may still be living in tents where they are being moved to.
"There are a number of officially accredited IPAs areas where they've been taken, where they will have healthcare services, where they will have food, shelter and accommodation," he said.
Mr Burke said the Government had put 2,500 beds into circulation from 1 January and that they had a "significant challenge" looking at pre-pandemic figures.
"It's up nearly 200%, people coming into our country, and the Government has prioritised women and children first.
"But it's important that we had a public safety issue in terms of people, very vulnerable people on Mount Street.
"It was a public health issue for them as well and for residents and area and businesses.
"So, I would welcome that. Those vulnerable people are being cared for and moved on because that's so important. We're dealing with human beings here."
