Scumbags in Dublin who stop immigrants getting shelter – the Dublin government is “punching down” says a group of 30 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s)
Street Photographer Chris Reid reports :
Barriers replace tents on Mount Street and along the Grand Canal. Barriers now extend along the Grand Canal from Mount Street to South Richmond Street. Good luck to the people in the tents getting through this mess.
Well done Chris. There is no political and moral difference between the actions of the arsonists and racist protesting scum who try to prevent asylum seekers getting shelter in hostels or hotels – and the actions of government ministers and functionaries – like Harris the Taoiseach and Harris the Garda boss. Double-standard “opposition” politicians who dog-whistle to the racists saying “No Open Borders” – E.g. the Sinn Féin Justice spokesperson Donnacha Ó Laoghaire – also share the blame. Genuine anti-racists can and will do much better.
Gregor Kerr reports from Dún Laoghaire :
Growing global wealth inequality is a factor in forcing people to leave their homes & seek a better life. We should become advocates for a fairer global economic system & work to ensure that victims of wealth inequality are not met with hate and oppression if they arrive here
Irish Times report, May 30 2024 – Pat Leahy and Kitty Holland
Tents housing asylum seekers are expected to be cleared from the Grand Canal in Dublin this morning, the third such clearance in recent weeks.
The Government is under increasing pressure about housing refugees,with complaints from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) about “scapegoating vulnerable people”.
The men will be brought to alternative accommodation in the Dublin area, where they will be housed in tents but will have access to food and sanitary facilities. Arrangements were being finalised on Wednesday evening.
More than 500 men have been transferred from the Grand Canal to safer and more secure facilities in recent weeks, officials say.
Volunteers working with homeless asylum seekers have in recent days been contacting those without accommodation who are not sheltering at the canal, but are sleeping in bus stations, train stations, mosques, churches and in tents in and outside the city centre. They have compiled a list of more than 100 men, to advocate for them with the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) in the hope that they can access shelter on Thursday.
On Wednesday night men arrived at the canal with tents in the hope of being included in any transport to accommodation. Volunteers, who have been providing food and water at the site, were offering tea and coffee and continuing to gather names. The mood was upbeat as several men said they hoped they would access shelter on Thursday.
Senior Government sources say that facilities at Thornton Hall in north Co Dublin, which is likely to house a large tented encampment for asylum seekers, are unlikely to be ready for four to six weeks.
Government has been encouraged by a drop in the numbers of asylum seekers who have arrived in recent weeks. Yet sources stressed that the drop – to about 350 last week, from about 600 in previous weeks – may be temporary, or due to one-off factors. It is encouraging Government, however, to continue with a tightening of enforcement measures against people entering the State illegally, which have seen a sharp increase in Garda checks near the Border and the return of small numbers of people to the UK.
The Government was criticised yesterday in the High Court and by organisations advocating for refugees and asylum seekers.
A group of 30 NGOs, including the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), Focus Ireland, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and medical charity Safetynet, said they were particularly concerned by the plight of almost 2,000 male asylum seekers who remain without shelter.
‘Absolutely clear’ State is failing in duty to meet basic needs of asylum seekers, court hears
They said the Government was “punching down” and “scapegoating vulnerable people”, creating a vacuum being filled with misinformation about migrants.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee rejected the criticism by the NGOs saying the Government would “protect those who need protecting … irrespective of where they have come from”.
But she said the State “had to say no” to people who “genuinely do not need our protection, who are not fleeing war or persecution, who are coming from a safe country or a safe place”.
Meanwhile, in a legal challenge by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission – the State’s human rights watchdog – the High Court was told that a lack of resources “cannot be relied upon” as an excuse for failing to provide asylum seekers with accommodation, the IHREC’s lawyers told the court.
The State begins its defence in the case today (May 30 2024).
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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‘Punching down’ | The Cedar Lounge Revolution
May 30, 2024 at 9:48 am