Housing

State to recruit local ‘champions’ to quell fears over refugee housing

Protests against state-provided accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees prompt actions to defuse tensions over the issue

Residents from the East Wall Road area of Dublin, marching to Dublin Port Tunnel in their continuing protests over an asylum-seeker accommodation centre in East Wall. Picture: RollingNews

The state is planning to hire “community champions” to ease local fears about refugees and asylum seekers being housed in their areas after a series of protests around the country.

The rise in asylum applications this year has meant that the state is now housing 17,500 people who have applied for international protection in hotels and other facilities. This is in addition to the 47,000 Ukrainian refugees in state-provided accommodation.

But there have been protests ...