Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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134. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will meet the residents and committee that have organised the recent protests in the East Wall area of Dublin. [59592/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Minister Paschal Donohoe T.D. and I met with members of the local community in East Wall on Friday 25 November.

The pressure to accommodate over 65,000 people since the start of this year has led to significant shortages, particularly for those seeking international protection. It has been necessary for my Department to avail of all offers of accommodation made, including the use of office buildings such as the building in East Wall, in order to address the accommodation shortfall.

Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country. There have been circa 40 accommodation locations utilised since January across 13 counties.

While effort is made to notify public representatives and State agencies in advance of occupying a building, the emergency nature of the response means that advance communications are not as comprehensive or as early as one would like.

Due to the sheer scale of the present crisis this inevitably means buildings repurposed for the temporary, emergency accommodation of those seeking refuge must be occupied at a faster timeline than would otherwise be the case. These constraints limit the time window for the provision of advance information. I am cognisant of this issue and my Department is working to put additional resources into improving advance communications for elected representatives, local authorities and local communities in this regard.

Last week, my Department organised a leaflet drop to residents in the area to advise on some key information relating to the use of the building and to dispel some of the misinformation that appears to have been disseminated regarding IPAS accommodation. I hope that this information will enable the local community to recognise the urgent need to provide shelter to international protection applicants, many of whom are fleeing persecution and conflict.