The growth of a camp of 215 tents in April along streets and laneways near the building where people apply for refugee status was a new phenomenon for Dublin inner city community workers seeking to support everyone.
It grew in a matter of weeks, bringing international media to the capital to witness Ireland’s first refugee camp. The government wouldn’t call it that and they cleared the tents two days after the tv crews visited. In the meantime, Noel Wardick, CEO of Dublin City Community Co-op found himself catapulted into the media spotlight as he spoke up for the asylum-seekers and was interviewed by RTÉ, the BBC, Newstalk and the Irish Times.
All community workers prefer when vulnerable people can speak up for themselves, but the men living on the pavement were voiceless.
Making a difference
Speaking to Changing Ireland, Noel said: “It’s important to speak up. The advocacy work that staff and volunteers in the Co-op do is absolutely important. The refugees struggle in terms of advocacy. Language is an issue. We understand the levers to pull; they don’t. And they’re often very afraid to speak up, given where they are coming from.”
He believes community workers have everything it takes to make a huge difference.
“Show compassion and don’t be fearful about being a voice for those communities that might not have a voice and gradually help them have their own voice when the time arises,” he said.
“I can guarantee any community worker, once they bring their skills, principles and core values and human compassion to their work with migrants and refugees, you will be successful.
The work reminded him of his years with development agencies in far-flung refugee camps in Ethiopia, Uganda and Darfur. He says development workers here who have never travelled abroad already know enough to provide support: “Abject poverty is the same the world over.”
“You can be a great community worker with migrants. I worked overseas and in many ways it’s the same skillset me and my colleagues bring to our work in Dublin city.
“As you you learn to interact with people with different languages and cultures, you will make a huge contribution to those migrants’ lives. That is because whether people are from Darndale, or a rural farm, or Somalia, human beings know when another human being is showing them compassion.”
Sanitation
His experience did however help him highlight one aspect the Government may have underestimated – the critical importance in refugee camps, regardless of size, of water and sanitation. Even in a famine situation the provision of hygiene is more important than the provision of food.
“The top priority” in refugee camps overseas that host tens of thousands of people is “always sanitation and water”, said Noel. “People will die far more quickly from disease than from lack of food.”
That explains why the Co-op was pressurising the Irish government to fund the provision of toilets in Mount Street and why it remains a concern as new asylum seekers arrive into Dublin.
These people – as required by law – need basic facilities while their asylum claims are processed.
Tents on hill
Changing Ireland toured the area on Monday, April 29, just as it was making international headlines. We called into the European Parliament’s Dublin office and spoke to staff there about the tents outside their door. Jack Moloney said they would not be issuing a comment and that he would prefer us to email him.
Outside, the tents stretched down Mount Street and around a block where the smell of urine under an archway was strong. Some tents were pitched on a hill to be close to the International Protection Office. How do you sleep at a 30 degree angle, I wondered.
We met a man with very little English getting a haircut on the street from an Irish volunteer. We met three men from Pakistan, none of whom spoke English. An English-speaking friend of theirs who had been in a tent on Dublin’s streets and has since been accommodated grew nervous when asked where his new accommodation was. He has been here six months. The men pressed their hands to their hearts in a sign of friendship, but communication beyond symbols was impossible.
Meanwhile, a camera crew from Britain strolled around in search of people with English accents who moved here fearful of being deported to Rwanda.
On Wednesday the authorities cleared the tented village, yet even after the tents were removed, new asylum seekers arrived with nowhere to stay but on the streets.

• Tents in April beneath an archway facing the International Protection Office. The archway served as an unofficial toilet.
Our duty
Local development companies are tasked with addressing and alleviating exclusion and poverty.
The plight of asylum-seekers “is recognised by one arm of Government, yet ignored by another”, continued Noel.
The Department of Rural and Community Development names “refugees” and “International Protection Applicants” as two of its 12 target groups under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP).
He said community workers maintain “cordial and professional” relations with government, “but it doesn’t stop us from putting pressure on the State to meet its obligations. When we complain, we are only doing our job.
“We’re not saying everyone has to stay, but we are saying they have to be treated humanely while they’re here,” said Noel.
Tackle poverty and exclusion
Noel asked: “Is there an ulterior motive to leaving people on the streets as a disincentive? It’s a view in our sector that the migration policy is as much about disincentives. It’s now a race to the bottom. No doubt some sections of the State aren’t disinclined to allow difficult situations to develop.”
“We’re busy enough trying to tackle existing poverty and when the State dumps poverty and exclusion on our doorstep, that’s problematic.”
He said it feels like he and colleagues are working for the fire brigade and “while one arm of the State is giving us water, the other is fuelling the fire.”
“The question is – and this requires a whole of government approach – How do we accommodate the flow of people into the country while we process their applications?
He believes that some working class communities have been expected to shoulder “absolutely disproportionate” responsibilities.
“And the State has been a terrible failure in relation to communications relating to the migrant situation. It has allowed rumour and counter-rumour and has not been pro-active. The Government is driven by populist views,” he said.
Some are nervous about criticising the State. “There is a chill factor for groups funded by the State. But sometimes, it helps officials for us to speak out…. This runs counter to the idea of not speaking out because of a fear that you’ll have your funding cut,” he said.
In Noel’s opinion, irregular migration and the arrival of refugees into Ireland is now a permanent feature of our society.
“My view is that migration is the same as climate change – it’s with us now, forever. This is a permanent feature of our landscape, so the question is how do we manage it.”
In the meantime, society has become more racist. “With human nature, it’s easier to turn on, or pick on, a person than a policy. It’s harder to get worked up about policy. People say, ‘It’s the effin’ Somalis coming in, it’s their fault’. So, they protest about Somalis coming in, but they wouldn’t have protested in the last couple of years about the lack of creche places or GPs. The lack of services provides people with a rod to beat the government. It’s absolute manna from heaven for the far right. If it wasn’t for the appalling housing crisis the far right would be out on the fringe,” said Noel.
While some politicians take advantage and promote disinformation, Noel pointed out that community workers are there to communicate, advocate and highlight the fact that asylum-seekers are human beings deserving of compassion. They are also there to remind the State that it is required by law to show humanity.
See here for more on Dublin City Community Co-op’s work with new communities in inner city Dublin.