Concerns were raised with the Department of Integration about the use of tented accommodation in Tralee over two months before asylum seekers were moved out of the tent.
40 international protection applicants were housed in tented accommodation behind the Johnston Marina from July until November last year.
Correspondence received by the Department of Integration was released to Radio Kerry News under the Freedom of Information Act.
It shows the Department was aware of residents’ concerns about the suitability of the tented accommodation since early September.
An email from a family resource worker, who worked with the asylum seekers in the tented accommodation and the families in the direct provision centre at the Johnston Marina, was sent to the Tralee International Resource Centre on September 12th.
It outlined concerns held by families living in the direct provision centre at the Johnston Marina, in relation to the arrival of men at the former hotel who were living in the adjacent tent.
The email said children in the building found it very hard to cope with the noise, and it led to an overcrowded situation in which parents didn’t want to allow their children to use the play area.
It said parents were very stressed and worried, as they were now always keeping their children in their room.
The email also outlined concerns from the men living in the tent, as they were afraid about dropping temperatures and it was often difficult to sleep because of the noise of wind and rain, and of people moving within the large tent.
There was also no sitting room area in the tent, meaning the men would have to constantly enter the main building.
The resource centre passed on this email to a community worker within the HSE, adding there was one COVID case amongst the men, who fully recovered, which the email said highlights limited space if there was an outbreak.
Tralee International Resource Centre also included in the email that the homework club that it operates would not be available for the foreseeable future.
The email was then passed to the Project Manager for Intercultural Health and IPAS within the HSE, who passed on the complaints and query to the Department of Integration.
This email was received by the Department over two months before the men were moved out of the tented accommodation.
On September 23rd, Kerry Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly also raised concerns about the tented accommodation with Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman on behalf of Tralee International Resource Centre.
The Department was still receiving complaints about the tented accommodation by October 27th.
The Department confirmed to Radio Kerry that 40 men were eventually moved to alternative accommodation elsewhere in the country over two days, the 16th and 17th of November.
