More than 40 tents were pitched on a stretch of the Grand Canal in south Dublin on Tuesday, an increase of about 10 since the weekend.
There are 1,780 asylum seekers awaiting an offer of accommodation, according to the latest statistics by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS), published on Tuesday.
Hundreds of metres of barriers were erected last week along stretches of the canal in an attempt to prevent homeless asylum seekers pitching tents there.
It followed an operation involving gardaí, the HSE and Waterways Ireland to clear more than 100 tents and to move some 160 people, mostly men, to sites at Crooksling in southwest Dublin and Dundrum.
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People who had been staying in the tents were handed notices stating they “do not have permission” to camp by the canal and advising them if they refuse to leave they would be moved on by gardaí. Tents were gathered and removed by lorries with grabber claws.
The barriers now stretch from Warrington and Percy Place, along most of Wilton Terrace, and onwards along Charlemont Place, ending at Harcourt Terrace.
A cluster of tents pitched by asylum seekers remained at the end of the barriers, near McCartney Bridge, on Tuesday and more have since pitched up there. A small number of tents were interspersed further along down the canal in gaps between the barriers.
One man, who was removing his tent from the area, noted that some people passing by could be “aggressive” and some took pictures or videos on their phones of asylum seekers “just trying to live”. He said he had felt safer in his tent near the bridge than elsewhere, but his tent was damaged.
Most of the tents pitched along the canal are occupied by Afghan and Palestinian men, a small number of whom had previously spent time in Crooksling and have been in Dublin for several weeks. However, it is understood the majority had arrived in Ireland after the operation to move people on from the canal last Thursday.
[ All supports for refugees and asylum seekers to be reviewed, Taoiseach saysOpens in new window ]
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