'TWICE AS BAD' - Labour TD lashes out at Government 'PR stunt' as Mount Street situation worsens

Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has recorded a video of the worsening makeshift asylum seeker campsite at Mount Street in Dublin, which he has said is "twice as bad" after the "PR stunt" to move residents around St. Patrick's Day earlier this year.

The site, which has continued to grow due to rising homeless figures for those seeking international protection, was temporarily cleared in March by the Department of Integration to a site in Crooksling, near Saggart, but many moved back to the Dublin city street after complaining of a lack of facilities.

In a video posted today on X, formerly known as Twitter, Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin recorded himself walking down Mount Street, saying that "things are worse than Patrick's weekend".

Back on Mount Street

It’s absolutely clear that the intervention of St Patrick’s Weekend was nothing more than a PR stunt.

The numbers are twice as bad as they were. pic.twitter.com/YhNRP1OthA

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) April 28, 2024

The Labour TD continued, saying it was a "PR stunt when the Government attempted to move a lot of these tents" in March. Now, according to Ó Ríordáin, the site is "twice as bad as it was, the numbers are twice as big".

"The smell is back. No sanitary conditions. And whatever the Government thought they were achieving with that PR stunt, six weeks later it's exactly the same, if not worse.

"1,700 asylum seekers in this country are homeless and these are the conditions that they are being allowed live in. Out of sight, out of mind, they (the Government) only reacted when they were forced to. 

"It was a PR stunt, I didn't want to believe that on Patrick's weekend, but it's absolutely clear that it was".