Minister insists that refugees will be housed at Gormanston camp for one week maximum

Refugees will begin to arrive at the Gormanston military camp on Tuesday, as part of a planned short-term accommodation measure.

Last week, Taoiseach Michéal Martin announced that the camp would open today to house Ukrainian refugees and deal with the backlog arriving into the country.

According to the Irish Examiner, 150 people will initially be accommodated at the army camp which has a capacity for 320.

The publication also noted that the most recent surge in arrivals was possibly due to recent Russian military attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.

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FACILITIES

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman explained that each military tent will each sleep 16 people with separate showers and toilets, recreation and canteen facilities.

He stressed that this would only be for a week 'maximum.'

The Green Party TD added said that tented accommodation could be added to existing facilities around the country for asylum seekers to meet any possible surge.

Over the weekend, he told RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland that 780 refugees and asylum seekers were accommodated at Citywest.