Irish people are not “extremists” when it comes to asylum seekers – but they want “a bit of common sense”, according to Taoiseach Simon Harris. 

Roughly 1,000 asylum seekers are due to be accommodated at Thornton Hall, Co Dublin, in “emergency-style” tents. 

This site is the pilot project for further State-owned asylum seeker accommodation. 

Taoiseach Simon Harris told Newstalk Breakfast there are currently no further plans for State-owned housing for asylum seekers. 

“I want to see the public service show me how Thornton Hall would work, how they will engage with the community and how it will have real impact,” he said. 

“We've got to be honest with people in this country and we’ve got to be honest with people coming to this country. 

“We're not in a position to provide turnkey accommodation. 

“I’m not willing to see a scenario where we continue to take hotels out of use and all of sudden the town has nowhere to have the holy communion, the funeral, the wedding, the baptism, all the celebrations.” 

'Emergency response' to migration

Mr Harris said it is essential to move away from the “emergency response” to asylum seekers, even though it was valid at the time. 

He also noted that recent canvassing around Ireland has shown him what the Irish public really thinks about the migration crisis. 

“The gap between the conversations that happen in the bubble of migration and the conversations that happen around the country is enormous,” he said. 

“People in Ireland are compassionate, they’re decent, they’re not extremist, they’re not far right. 

“But they want a bit of common sense - they are really frustrated as am I that the conversation about migration begins and ends with one of accommodation.” 

Since Mr Harris’ appointment as Taoiseach, the Government has taken a harder stance on migration, including a commitment to the deportation of asylum seekers whose applications are rejected. 

Mr Harris noted, however, that deportation does not mean “putting people in handcuffs and putting them on planes”. 

“It can mean you don’t have a right to be here, so your welfare benefits stop, your PPS number stops, your right to work stops, and many people leave when they don’t have the right,” he said. 

Mr Harris also discussed Ireland’s future commitments to Palestine, the future of the National Children’s Hospital and Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in the United States.