Dublin 4 housing just six international protection applicants

Rory Fleming

Only six international protection applicants are being housed in Dublin 4, a new report has revealed.

There are a total of 7,772 international protection (IP) applicants currently being housed by the State in the nation’s capital, figures released by the Department of Integration reveal.

The figures, which were provided by Minister Roderic O’Gorman, show that there are a total of 21,387 IP applicants across the entire country, with a third of those in Dublin alone.

However, the government has come under scrutiny for the manner in which these applicants are distributed across the city, with a postcode-by-postcode breakdown included in the figures.

The affluent suburb of Dublin 4, which includes the likes of Donnybrook, Ballsbridge, Merrion and Sandymount, is the postcode with the fewest IP applicants by far, housing just six in total.

Meanwhile, Dublin’s North Inner City (D1) houses 589 applicants, with Dublin 3 housing 581.

These areas have been inflexion points regarding the housing of IP applicants in recent times, with large-scale protests against their arrival in places such as East Wall.

The most populated postal code for IP applicants was the Dublin 22 area, which includes Clondalkin, Liffey Valley, Newcastle and Neilstown, with over 1,780 people being housed by the State.

The government body which oversees the housing of IP applicants is the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).

Reacting to the release of the figures, the State agency said that it had received “limited offers of accommodation in Dublin 4”.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik also gave her thoughts on the figures, saying that;

“I have advocated for a NPHET-style approach to providing housing for refugees. In Dublin 4, I have also suggested conversion of the Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge and the Baggot Street Hospital into accommodation”.

However, fellow Labour Party member, Councillor Dermot Lacey, who represents constituents in the D4 and D6 postcodes, remarked that;

“I have detected no unwillingness in my electoral ward to house people in appropriate housing and I have had nothing but positive comments from residents saying ‘How can we help?’ and suggesting places”.