Dublin Grand Canal asylum seeker camp being removed

Image source, PA

Image caption, Workers sprayed numbers on around 80 tents before the operation commenced.

Around 100 tents being used by asylum seekers have been removed from Dublin's Grand Canal.

The operation, which is the third of its kind in the area so far this month, began on Thursday morning.

Contractors began erecting metal barriers around the site from 05:00 BST, while the operation to remove tents began at around 06:30 BST.

Irish broadcaster RT脡 reported that 109 individuals were offered accommodation.

There has been a multi-agency effort to remove tents from around Dublin City in recent months.

Tents at the encampment close to the Baggot Street Bridge along the Grand Canal were dismantled and loaded onto a lorry.

The asylum seekers were given letters explaining that it is an offence if they continue to stay along the canal, RT脡 reported.

Five buses carrying the asylum seekers left shortly before 08:00 BST.

Image source, PA

Image caption, Hundreds of international protection applicants have been offered state-provided shelter at multiple sites as part of the recent operations.

Latest figures show there were 1,939 international protection applicants awaiting an offer of accommodation.

The Irish government is operating State-provided shelter at multiple sites where it said it has robust, weather-proof tents available.

This is the fifth time asylum seekers sleeping in tents have been moved from parts of the city in recent months, twice at a makeshift camp outside the International Protection Office on Mount Street, and three times along the Grand Canal.