New Athlone asylum seeker housing ‘full to capacity’

New asylum seeker housing which is being provided on a six-month basis at two locations in the Willow Park area of Athlone is full to capacity, a Department spokesperson has said.

Apartments which were previously occupied by students at Kilmacaugh Avenue and at a Daly's Apartments complex have been used by international protection applicants, who are seeking asylum in Ireland, since mid-May.

The accommodation is being provided "on a full-board, temporary basis," to single people, couples and families, a spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said in response to queries from the Westmeath Independent.

The spokesperson said 95 people were being accommodated across the two sites. The Daly's Apartments location had capacity for 41 people and the second set of apartments in use, at Kilmacaugh Avenue, could accommodate 54 people. Both were full, the Department said on Friday, July 1.

The Department declined to name the contractor appointed to provide the accommodation service, saying that it "does not disclose specifics" on individual contracts.

A PR spokesperson for Aramark, the multinational company which operates some direct provision centres in Ireland, told the Westmeath Independent that the company "does not manage either Daly’s Apartment Complex or apartments at Kilmacaugh Avenue in Athlone."

The new asylum seeker accommodation, at the apartments previously used by students, is being provided for six months according to the Department, which means it will be in use for this purpose until mid-November.

In response to a parliamentary question from Offaly TD Carol Nolan, Minister Roderic O'Gorman recently confirmed that some contracts to accommodate international protection applicants in student housing would extend beyond the start of the new academic year in September.

"Legal contracts are in place with both third-level institutions and with the owners of privately-owned student accommodation. A small number of the privately-owned student accommodation contracts extend past August," said the Minister on June 27.

Commenting on the Minister's response, Deputy Nolan said the student accommodation market was "already under-resourced and exceptionally squeezed" at present.

"Students will already be under severe strain following the announcement that the Leaving Certificate results will not be released until early September, and the last thing they need is to have the student accommodation market reduced still further," she stated.