Portacabins to house refugees could be added at Athlone site

It has been reported this week that the Government is considering using Athlone's asylum seeker accommodation centre as one of the sites where portacabins could be added to accommodate asylum seekers.

RTÉ stated that the Cabinet approved €20 million in funding last week to provide an additional 400 beds for refugees from Ukraine and people seeking international protection in Ireland.

The national broadcaster said that the locations for the additional accommodation were not yet agreed, but that five state-owned sites around the country were being considered as options for "small housing units of modular accommodation".

The sites under consideration included the Athlone centre in Lissywollen, Columb Barracks in Mullingar, Knockalisheen Accommodation Centre in Clare, and two sites in Dublin.

The Athlone site was used to accommodate up to 170 additional refugees in tents during a two and a half month period late last year.

While there is no confirmation at this stage that the Athlone site will be used for the portacabin units, it's understood that sewerage, water and electrical infrastructure which was installed at the site to support the addition of the tented facility last year remains in place for possible use again.

In Mullingar, the first asylum seekers - formally known as international protection applicants - to be accommodated in tents in Columb Barracks are expected to arrive in the coming days.

Some 15 tents have been installed in a section of the barracks courtyard and these were handed over to the Department on Monday of this week.

A Department spokesperson told our sister paper, the Westmeath Examiner, that the tents will be used "for approximately 16 weeks" before being replaced by "portacabin-type" units.

The Department said its intention was for no individual to have to stay in the tented facility in Columb Barracks for any more than three weeks before being moved "to more suitable accommodation".