'I never thought this would be happening to me': Irish 'Tent City' dubbed a 'humanitarian crisis'

As approximately 270 people set up tents in a makeshift migrant camp near the International Protection Office on Mount Street, Co Dublin, the issue of deteriorating health conditions and the lack of basic amenities plaguing the area is being highlighted. 

In a report which aired on The Tonight Show on Virgin Media, journalist Ciara Doherty shed light on the dire situation facing these asylum seekers in Dublin.

The report described scenes of desperation as individuals queue outside the office, presumably awaiting appointments to process their asylum applications. While some fortunate souls may leave with suitcases in tow, presumably bound for accommodations, many others are left no alternative, resorting to erecting tents around the office premises, hoping for some semblance of shelter.

Ciara, who visited the camp, relayed a grim scene of squalor and neglect. The makeshift camp lacked basic sanitation facilities, forcing inhabitants to urinate in the streets and leaving heaps of rubbish to accumulate.

On the show, Roisin McAleer, of Social Rights Ireland said: "There are about 120 tents of homeless asylum seekers actually wrapped around the whole building right in behind, and around the side there are a few Irish homeless people as well."

"The reason why they're here is because this is the first port of call, the first point of contact you'd come to for protection and you're supposed to get protection on arrival, there are reception laws or rules, but people were being put out without a tent or a sleeping bag."

It was added that the tents may house up to three people each, and predominantly young males. "There is one man who has been here for 82 days," Roisin said.

In terms of facilities, Roisin stated: "There's no dignity, there is no bathroom, there's no toilet, there's a makeshift bucket over there in the corner and then when people walk by, they're picking it up on the soles of their shoes and then getting into [their] tent. People are [getting] sick."

"I don't understand why toilets couldn't have been brought here," she added. 

Roisin added that a volunteer doctor comes voluntarily once a week, and has found scabies and respiratory illnesses in the built up camp, now dubbed 'Tent City'.

A resident at the camp, detailed the appalling conditions faced by the inhabitants, he himself not owning a tent to sleep in. "I don't even know where I'm going to get [a tent] from," he stated to Ciara.

Continuing, the man remains uncertain about his future. "Truth is, I never expected this. I only saw these things on TV. I never thought maybe one day this would be happening to me. I never expected it.

"As it is, I'm still trying to come to terms with if I'm going to survive here or not, but going back is not an option.

"I only found out today that there is a problem with accommodation. I don't know what tomorrow brings for us, only God knows."

As part of the panel discussion after the report, Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin stated: "There's 1,200 in the country who don't have accommodation. It's a direct result of government policy. We don't need a portaloo down there. We need them not to be there, not to be living in tents.

"They are coming from places of absolute trauma, including Palestine, and this is what we provide for them.

"You'll have the Taoiseach in Washington trying to tell the American administration how [they] should have a bit more of a sympathetic view of the undocumented Irish in America. It's hypocritical and it's wrong."

Emma Lane-Spollen of the Ukraine Civil Society Forum described the issue as a "humanitarian crisis".