Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has been warned that he has allowed the creation of a “permanent blight” in central Dublin where a “tent city” of homeless asylum seekers is growing.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan said in a letter to the minister there had been exponential growth in the “tent city” of refugees outside the International Protection Office (IPO) in Mount Street.

It is an “appalling situation” that has been allowed to fester, he said, and was considerably worse than ever before.

“The number of people in tents is growing on a daily basis,” he wrote.

There are an estimated 1,000 asylum seekers homeless, with about 220 now in the encampment, where conditions have been described as appalling with no hygiene facilities.

There are now approximately 150 tents, he said. These were now blocking the public footpath “preventing wheelchair users and other members of the public” from being able to pass.

Mr O’Callaghan said the “whole area is now a complete mess with rubbish and detritus everywhere to a much more severe degree than in previous weeks”.

“It is now a permanent blight on our city — particularly as our national holiday approaches,” he said, referring to St Patrick’s Day.

It will also get worse, given the lack of space at the IPO, he said.

“There is a significant risk that there will be an outbreak of disease in the area,” Mr O’Callaghan warned.

“This will have very detrimental consequences, not only on the applicants in tents but also on the people in the surrounding vicinity.

Written by Senan Molony