One small department left to solve migrant crisis

• Published date: 05 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

While lacking in shorter-term solutions, the strategy is coherent and well thought out. However, the State’s almost total reliance on one small department to oversee a national crisis, coupled with a lack of co-operation and momentum from other Government departments, means short- and long-term plans for housing asylum seekers remain chaotic and, in many ways, unworkable. The plan says “cross-Government collaboration” is needed to ensure a fairer distribution of housing and that building on State lands remains “somewhat dependent on what lands/properties are offered by departments/agencies”. In short, the Department of Housing should take a leading role in this process

One senior official underlined a lack of urgency among housing officials and “unwillingness to recognise the scale of the problem” within the housing department, adding that acquiring land for building remains “an uphill battle”. Any land that is made available tends to be specified for housing Ukrainians – finding accommodation for international protection applicants is “exceptionally difficult”, said the official.

Another source said the Government’s reliance on a very small group of civil servants to determine a national housing policy for asylum seekers and Ukrainians would never work.

Department of Integration staff are reportedly very satisfied with the Department of Public Expenditure’s financial commitments to support the new housing strategy and cover the projected €5 billion it is projected to cost to provide beds for asylum seekers over the next 20 years. However, experts agree that leadership from the Department of the Taoiseach, and central Government oversight, could actually be the key to solving this crisis.

Enter Fine Gael leader Simon Harris. The incoming taoiseach vowed last week to install “firm but fair” immigration controls when he takes over the top job next week. While some officials are sceptical of the change Harris can make in what may be a short term in office, others say he has the drive and ambition to lead a new immigration policy based on effective community and civic engagement, proper housing dispersal and cross-Government communication.

Refugee policy Cabinet Ministers were told last week that the establishment of a dedicated migrant accommodation agency is now being considered. A quick scan through the State’s history of refugee policy reveals such an agency existed 30 years ago. The Department of Foreign Affairs’

Refugee Agency was established in the...