Homeless immigrants straining capacity to supply accommodation -Housing Minister

Homeless immigrants straining capacity to supply accommodation -Housing Minister

Late Stage Ireland

Between 30%-40% of people who are registering as homeless in Ireland every month are newly arrived immigrants according to Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien. 

O'Brien told Newstalk's Gavan Reilly this afternoon that the migrants are putting a significant strain on the State's capacity to supply emergency accommodation to homeless people.

O'Brien said he wanted to make it clear that these migrants were not claiming asylum but had just moved to Ireland looking for a better life without any means to support themselves. They are coming from both the EEA (European Economic Area) and the rest of the world. 

"They're arriving in Ireland and immediately landing in homelessness. That has been on the increase in the last couple of months."

O'Brien says he's been discussing the issue with European colleagues with a mind to respecting freedom of movement within the EU.

Gavan Reilly asked O'Brien why someone move to Ireland if they're immediately going to register as homeless but O'Brien said he wasn't going to speculate on their reasons.

Reilly did not ask O'Brien why the State was not deporting the homeless migrants who weren't EU citizens or how they were able to migrate to Ireland in the first place.

The former Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy told Pat Kenny that approximately a third of people in emergency accommodation are from outside the EEA with unknown rights to housing. When John O'Connor from the Housing Agency was asked by Pat Kenny what should be done about the huge number of illegals that the State are housing in hotels, O'Connor told him that we should continue to support them compassionately. Justice Minister Helen McEntee offered a blanket amnesty to all illegals in Ireland last December.

The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive said that 21% of families presenting as homeless in 2018 were non-EU citizens while 12% were EU migrants. They said it was a significant challenge and a growing problem.

The Green Party's Ossian Smyth also told Pat Kenny in 2018 that Ireland needs to build 300 new homes every week for a population increase of 1000 per week. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has previously stated that Ireland needs to  need to plan on being an island of ten million through immigration driven growth.

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