The Government is to look into buying a student accommodation complex in Cork city to house up to 400 refugees and asylum seekers.
The Irish Examiner reports it’s understood the students living at the complex would be provided with alternative accommodation if the deal goes ahead.
The paper says the Department of Integration is assessing whether the privately-owned five block complex could be used as a long-term reception centre for International Protection Applicants.
Discussions are understood to be at an early stage after the cabinet was first briefed on the idea in October last year.
The Department of Integration is under increasing pressure to find accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees amid protests outside proposed and confirmed asylum
centres around the country.
Over 600 International Protection Applicants are currently homeless due to a lack of accommodation.
