Chai Brady
Church-based charities are fighting to “ensure” refugees faced with homelessness in a direct provision centre in Dublin find accommodation before time runs out.
Clondalkin Towers houses almost 250 people, with 70 of them having received their refugee status.
Residents were told in October that the centre’s management company Fazyard Ltd would be closing the facility on December 3. After talks with the Reception and Integration Agency they agreed to postpone the closure until summer 2019 on humanitarian grounds.
However, the company will continue to search for a tender in the meantime, and a meeting scheduled for the second week of January is expected to shed light on whether the direct provision centre will be kept open.
“The postponement means we have six- to nine months to try and ensure that all those people won’t face homelessness,” according to the Assistant Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), David Moriarty.
JRS, with the assistance of the Peter McVerry Trust, have “intensified supports” and are running a housing clinic five days a week at Clondalkin Towers to help the 70 refugees find alternative accommodation.
Context
“Although we’re operating on a longer timeframe which is very welcome and it is positive news for those residents, it is still a difficult context,” said Mr Moriarty.
“We are still within a housing crisis, it is still very hard to secure property, but we’re intensifying our supports right up until the end of this year at the very least and then obviously we’ll have to take stock in January and see what level of support is needed to ensure that none of the individuals who have status will face homelessness if the centre closes in summer.”
He added that “there’s considerable anxiety on the ground” as people are in education, looking for jobs and have children in school. Many are also very active in parish life.
“If the centre was to close, there is going to be a significant negative impact on individuals and families who ultimately are dispersed.”
Frank Brown, a parish pastoral worker in Clondalkin, said the closure would mean people in the asylum process “are going to be relocated, and no one knows where”.
A family who recently received the right to remain, moved into the centre this month, he said. “They’re starting at the beginning of the process now, the Government is still moving people in even though they’re talking about closing the direct provision centre.”