TENT CITY

Asylum seekers set up camp in Ballsbridge after Grand Canal tent town torn down & sectioned off by hired staff

The overnight move occurred after migrants’ set up along the canal was dismantled

• Published: 11:10, 31 May 2024
• Updated: 11:10, 31 May 2024

• Published: Invalid Date,

ASYLUM seekers in Dublin have moved their tents to Ballsbridge after their set-up on the Grand Canal was blocked off.

Eight new tents have appeared on a patch of green space at the corner of Wellington Road, Clyde Road, Pembroke Park and Wellington Place yesterday evening.

The overnight move occurred after around 100 tents belonging to asylum seekers at the Grand Canal were taken away.

Alongside the group of tents is multiple large bottles of water despite no sanitation facilities available.

The Irish Independent has reported that staff were hired to put up fencing along the Grand Canal which is being hired and estimated to cost €36,000, according to Waterways Ireland.

On Thursday, around 100 tents were cleared from Dublin’s Grand Canal and was the third to take place this month.The removal of the tents happened at around 7am only hours afer more barriers were placed around a site on Baggot Street and the tents there were sprayed with numbers by contractors.

When the multi-agency operation commenced, international protection applicants were informed by volunteers that they were being asked to move.

Volunteers sifted through peoples belongings and assisted with taking away the tarpaulins covering the tents in the encampment.

The asylum seekers were given a letter informing them that they would be committing an offence if they continued to stay at the site.The tents were loaded onto a lorry and taken away.

Stark pictures show migrant ‘tent city’ weaving through roads outside Dublin asylum processing centre

Gardai arrived at the scene and the men started boarding multiple coaches to be transferred to other sites at 7am.

It is understood that the men will be housed in tents at alternative accommodation in Dublin.

A third operation got underway on May 9 as a large camp on Mount Street was dismantled.

In a Government statement, it said a number of beds have been made available in Citywest to home asylum seekers over recent days.The Thornton Hall site was purchased by the State in 2004 with a “super prison” due to be built on the land.

It is now suspected that an accommodation camp for asylum seekers could be up and running on the land in weeks.